Darkening Skies
by Chaotic Manifest
Summary: Three years after the events depicted in Age of Heroes, the Cyclonian Empire is on the rise again thanks to mysterious new allies. Can the Storm Hawks continue to protect Atmosia despite everything Master Cyclonis has planned for them?
1. The Shadowhand of Cyclonis

**Darkening Skies: The Shadow-hand of Cyclonis**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 1**

Three years after the events of Age of Heroes…

Master Cyclonis stood rigidly in front of her crystal experimentation machine, trying to perfect a new type of crystal she had thought up a few days back. It was frustrating; despite her best efforts she was still unable to balance the energies of the crystal into a stable matrix that would still allow the crystal to function as she wanted. If she could only perfect the crystal, it would guarantee the domination of Cyclonia for years to come.

"Speak."

"I'm sorry to disturb you my lady, but I have a report on the recent activities of the crystal freighters of Free Atmos." A cloaked figure said as it emerged from the shadows around the edge of the room behind her. After the figure had spoken, it presented a thin stack of papers to Master Cyclonis, although not in a manner that suggested it expected her to take them.

"Ah, Marrshal, you are early with your report… anything interesting to report?" Master Cyclonis said coolly as she continued with her work. After the failure of her Talons to keep the Sky Knights in line, she had promoted Marrshal to the position of Commander, an equal to Ravess, Snipe and the Dark Ace in terms of rank. In terms of military and fighting skill however, Marrshal was likely not the equal of his peers; his skills lying more in the arenas of espionage and other covert operations. For that reason alone she had not told the other Talon Commanders of their fourth member, the publicity that would result could compromise the effectiveness of Marrshal's skills. Especially with his current project of finding the main mines the Free Atmosians used to supply their vehicles and weapons with crystals.

"I have tracked the major freighter shipments back to one area in particular and I believe I have found the one major crystal mine on Atmos we do not control and that is the major lifeline of Free Atmos. The only problem remaining is finding the actual mine itself… the entire terra appears to be enveloped in a cloud bank." Marrshal said after glancing through his report, "I estimate it will probably take a few weeks for me to determine anything more, since maps and clocks are evidently required to safely navigate to the terra… until that report I will be out of contact, with your permission that is."

"You have proven yourself capable of accomplishing the goals you set for yourself in the time allotted Marrshal. Proceed with what you have in mind, but remember, I am not tolerant of failure."

"I shall report back with far better news next time, however, I will need some cover to explain the missing watches and maps until then. No reason to possibly alert the Atmosians about a possible security breach until we arrive at their mine." Marrshal said as he sank back into the shadows, leaving Master Cyclonis alone with her experiments. A sinister grin crept its way across her face, while Marrshal would deliver the location of the mine to her regardless, his plan also meant that Ravess and Snipe could do a little plundering until the final blow came. That would distract those resistors from the greater threat to their well-being while boosting Cyclonian crystal supplies, how perfect. Calling in a Talon, she sent him to retrieve a radio so she could call Ravess and Snipe.

A few hours later…

"Master Cyclonis, you called for us?" Ravess said as both she and Snipe bowed before the leader of the Cyclonian Empire. Off to one side, Dark Ace watched the siblings with a small measure of disdain; it was obvious that Master Cyclonis had called them, otherwise Ravess and Snipe would not be here right now.

"Yes… the main routes that supply the Atmosians with crystals have been discovered, I want you and Snipe to set up a small base relatively close to this trade route here and stifle the flow of crystals to Free Atmos. Make sure to take enough weather altering crystals to create a storm to cover up the loss of the freighters you raid. I want no mistakes on operation." Master Cyclonis said with a tone of menace underscoring her words, "It is also important that you secure any navigation equipment the freighter captains might have. But this is not as important as securing the crystals the freighters transport."

"We understand Master Cyclonis, we shall not fail you." Ravess said, in a rather cowed tone.

"Excellent, then go now and see that you live up to your words." Master Cyclonis said dismissively as the two left, turning to Dark Ace as they exited the room, "Now Dark Ace, we have a matter of the utmost secrecy to discuss."

"Utmost secrecy, how interesting…" Dark Ace said with some curiosity as he stood up from his previous slouch against the wall.

"For some time now, there has been a fourth Talon commander by the name of Marrshal, he has served as our spymaster and runs many covert operations throughout the Atmos. It is thanks to him that we found out where the Atmosians are shipping their crystals through and he is searching for the original source of the crystals we are capturing. Currently he is out on assignment, but when he returns, I want the two of you to meet… he could prove most helpful in tracking down the Storm Hawks for you and setting up some nasty little surprises to help guarantee their defeat. No offense to your skills intended."

"None taken, Master Cyclonis, I look forward to meeting this spymaster." Dark Ace said, more intrigued than offended about how this Marrshal could help. Privately, he considered how skilled this Marrshal must be to earn such praise from Master Cyclonis; certainly he must be more competent than Ravess or Snipe… Well, Snipe at least; Ravess was fairly competent, but she had been around long enough to have a few failures under her belt whereas this spymaster might not have been around that long. Time would tell in the end.

"In the meantime, I have heard rumors of an incredibly skilled crystal master wandering around Free Atmos. Marrshal did some initial research and managed to find a couple locations where this man is likely to show up next. I would like you to disguise yourself and find him. When you do, I want him brought to me… his skill in crystal alchemy might even be a match for my own."

"By your command Master Cyclonis."


	2. Chapter 2

**Darkening Skies: The Shadow-hand of Cyclonis**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 2**

One week later…

"Dude! That was awesome!" Finn said as he hit the miniature airship dead on, despite the best attempts of the stand attendant to make its movements impossible to predict. With a half hearted smile, the attendant showed off the various prizes that Finn could choose from, the blond- haired Storm Hawk quickly choosing some little trinket that only a child would want.

"I don't know why I even left the Condor; fairs like these are havens for all sorts of air and food borne plagues. Not to mention I think my rash is getting worse…" Stork said miserably as he scratched at some invisible rash on the back of his neck.

"Calm down Stork, after that last mission, we could all use a break." Aerrow said as he purchased a fruit drink of some kind from one of the vendors along the main thoroughfare, "I've never seen the Talons lay a trap like that just to defend a shipment of crystals… especially considering they were just a bunch of fuel crystals."

"Just a bunch of fuel crystals? I've never seen so many different types of crystals in one shipment: massive barrels of fuel crystals, boxes of blazer crystals and firebolt crystals, crates of frost crystals, racks of floater crystals and shield crystals, a couple levitation crystals and even a solaris crystal!" Piper exclaimed happily as she rattled off some of the crystals the team had seen in the freighter before a few squadrons of Talons had burst out of the shipping crates at the same time a Cyclonian destroyer had risen out of the clouds below, "At least we managed to get a few crates of crystals onboard before we had to get out of there… With what we got, I think we'll be able to finally fix the shields on the Condor! Or at the very least build new ones."

"Stork will be happy to hear that." Finn said as he took a break from encouraging Junko for some other game of skill.

"I'm right here…" Stork said with a hint of irritation in his voice as he suddenly glanced up at the sky, "It actually does… make me… happy…" He continued as he grinned insanely, "I think I'll go back to the Condor now, those shields aren't going to build themselves."

"Okay, see you later Stork."

After Stork had sprinted back to the Condor, the remaining members of the team broke up, Finn and Junko staying near the game stands while Piper and Aerrow headed for some of the rides.

"I'm heading off to get something to eat Finn." Junko said as Finn lined up to take a shot at a balloon, "I'll be right back."

Focused on hitting the drifting balloon, Finn barely noticed Junko fading into the crowd as he headed towards the nearest concession stand. He didn't even notice a pale skinned bald man wearing a black trenchcoat coming toward him. Even though the man wore nothing on his head or face, his eyes seemed mysteriously shadowed, giving the general impression that the man had a skull for a head.

"Hello, Finn of the Storm Hawks." The man said, startling Finn and causing him to miss the balloon.

"That's me." Finn said proudly as he recovered from his surprise, "Who wants to know?"

"Slightly rude... But you'll have to do. My name is Magus Psi, and I have a message for you and your team. You are in grave danger, the Dark Ace is coming for me and he will dispose of anyone in his way. You must leave if you wish to avoid a confrontation." The man said quickly before disappearing back into the crowd.

"Uh-oh…" Finn stammered out before he raced off to find Junko before finding Aerrow and Piper.

Several minutes later…

Aerrow and Piper were laughing as they both got off one of the roller coasters at the fair, having shared a joke just a few minutes prior relating to the experience of plunging straight down a track. However, just then Aerrow noticed Finn and Junko sprinting toward them with panicked looks on their faces, not a good sign.

"We got trouble!" Junko yelled as the two came closer.

"The… Dark Ace… is headed… this way!" Finn added as he slowed to a stop, panting for breath.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Piper said as the two caught their breath and Aerrow scanned the skies for any sign of Cyclonian Talons.

"Why would he be here anyways? He couldn't possibly have tracked us here." Aerrow said as he finished his sweep of the sky, beginning to wish Radarr were here… just in case they had to engage in an aerial battle.

"No, he's after some guy…" Finn started to say as a blast of energy suddenly tore through one of the nearby tents, sending the man he had seen earlier tumbling along with it and igniting a panicked stampede among the fair-goers nearby. Immediately Aerrow grabbed his blades, igniting them in one swift motion as he dropped into a battle stance. Looked like there was not going to be an aerial combat today. As the rest of him team followed suit, the Dark Ace leapt over the burning remains of the tent and landed next to the man.

"Rather foolish of you to not bring any crystals with you." The Dark Ace said as he leveled his sword at Magus before glancing over at the Storm Hawks, "Well, this is a surprise… Hello Aerrow, enjoying your day at the fair?"

"Whatever you want with that man, Dark Ace, you'll have to go through us first." Aerrow said boldly as the Dark Ace shifted his aim toward the Storm Hawks, obviously expecting them to challenge him. As he did so, Magus scrambled away from him, heading toward where the Storm Hawks had gathered. In an instant, Aerrow tensed and launched himself at the Dark Ace; dodging the energy blasts his opponent threw at him to slam his blades against the Dark Ace's sword.

"I'll handle this, the rest of you, get him out of here." Aerrow shouted back over his shoulder while keeping an eye on the Dark Ace.

"Now, now Aerrow, I didn't come here alone… After all, an entire terra is a large area for one man to search." Dark Ace said mockingly as several Talons jumped out of another tent near the rest of his team, engaging them in hand to hand combat a moment later. In his surprise, Aerrow lost his focus on Dark Ace for a split second, a momentary pause which the Dark Ace used to try and smash Aerrow's guard aside. However, Aerrow let himself flow with the momentum of the blow and somersaulted off to one side while using his other blade to throw a wide arc of energy at the Dark Ace.

"Clever move." Dark Ace said as he leapt over the crackling energy Aerrow had thrown at him, using the downward momentum of his leap to slam straight down onto Aerrow's guard. Using one blade to continue holding the sword back, Aerrow whirled around with his other blade, trying to slice in under the Dark Ace's sword. Instead of dodging backward though, the Dark Ace slide his sword downward to block, igniting sparks as the two energy blades crackled against each other. With a wicked grin, the Dark Ace twisted his sword, forcing Aerrow's guard down and leaving the Sky Knight's head open as the Dark Ace twisted his sword around in a circle to try and take advantage of that vulnerability. Aerrow was quick to respond and quickly rolled under the angled horizontal strike, bringing his own two blades up in a vertical slash that the Dark Ace deflected with a horizontal guard. Diving back in, both combatants smashed their weapons together, the energy shrouding both weapons whining and sparking as the weapons ground against each other.

Meanwhile, Piper had sprang backwards to dodge the initial rush of Talons that had burst out of the tent to their left. With a quick upward kick, she caught the closest Talon in the chin, knocking the man up into the air slightly before he dropped to the ground in a heap. The next Talon in line tripped over his fallen comrade, leaving himself vulnerable to a quick downward chop to the back of the neck which quickly rendered him unconscious. A quick glance to the side told her that Junko was having an easy enough time handling the Talons foolish enough to challenge the Wallop's strength. Finn was the only one who really seemed to be having a difficult time of it, since he mostly relied on his ranged weapons to fight and none of them, except Aerrow, seemed to have their weapons on them. He made up for this lack of weapons by serving as a great distraction, mostly by running away from the Talons. While she observed all this, she never took her attention off the Talons near her, grabbing one by the arm and hauling the man around into a painful arm bar that caused the Talon to drop his firebolt- tipped staff. Piper quickly used the foot nearest the staff to flip the weapon toward Finn while in the same motion tripped the Talon and slammed his face into the ground. With a gesture of thanks, Finn caught the staff and fired off a few blasts at the Talons pursuing him. With great accuracy and precision, the blasts caught the pursuing Talons square in the chest or abdomen, dropping the men instantly. By Piper's estimation, they would finish off the rest of these Talons in another couple minutes.

Aerrow quickly jumped back onto his feet, recovering from the Dark Ace throwing him through a tent wall. Hoping to catch his opponent off-guard, he threw an arc of energy toward where he had ripped through the wall. His blast caught the Dark Ace in the chest, knocking him backwards onto his back but otherwise did not seem to faze his opponent that much. It did however allow Aerrow to take the initiative and he raced forward to strike before the Dark Ace fully recovered. The Dark Ace had already recovered though and, grabbing Aerrow by the wrist and kicked him up and over, using Aerrow's momentum to fling him into another tent across the way. Smelling something burning, Aerrow looked down and noticed that the Dark Ace had sliced his outfit across the heart, thankfully his armor had protected him from anything more than a scratch. A moment later and the Dark Ace slashed through the wall of the tent, stalking purposefully toward Aerrow. With several more slashes, the Dark Ace flung about a dozen bolts of crimson energy at Aerrow, the Sky Knight deftly deflecting the bolts as quickly as they came with his blades before bringing his blades around to block an aggressive horizontal slash from the Dark Ace. Pushing hard against the Dark Ace's sword with one blade, Aerrow quickly slipped his other blade in-between the Dark Ace's sword blades and rotated the sword vertically, allowing him to strike at the Dark Ace directly. However, the Dark Ace rotated as well, and the strike barely missed the Talon commander. Aerrow quickly pulled his blade back to prevent the Dark Ace from disarming him; but the commander instead grabbed Aerrow by his shirt, hoisting him into the air before batting Aerrow with his sword. Aerrow managed to block the oncoming blade, unfortunately, the Dark Ace had planned something else and Aerrow's head smacked into a brazier that was hanging from one of the tent roof beams. Momentarily stunned, Aerrow crashed down onto a table stacked with various trinkets for sale. He gazed up at the roof, only to roll off to one side as the Dark Ace ran his sword through were Aerrow had been just an instant before. With a sudden surge of motion, Aerrow kicked the Dark Ace's hand with a quick follow-up kick to the Dark Ace's side that sent his opponent sprawling on the ground. To Aerrow's surprise however, the Dark Ace held up his hand and a cable shot out of one of his gauntlets and pulled his sword back to him.

"As you can plainly see, I've learned a few new tricks." The Dark Ace said as both he and Aerrow scrambled to their feet and locked blades again. Unlike previous clashes however, this time Aerrow gained the upper hand and flung the Dark Ace back out into the thoroughfare where the Talons and Storm Hawks were fighting. As the Dark Ace climbed back to his feet, he noticed that once again the Talons had been little help except to serve as a distraction. However, he also noticed that for some odd reason his target had not taken this opportunity to flee as would have been normal given the circumstances. With an odd grin, the man vanished without as much as a flash.

"Well Storm Hawks, this has been fun, but I have other places to be." The Dark Ace said as he shot several energy blasts into the support structure of the roller coaster above them. As the Storm Hawks scattered to get away from the falling debris, the Dark Ace dashed to where he had hidden his skimmer and quickly took off, making sure to avoid being seen by anyone on the Condor. In his wake, he left havoc and several bewildered Storm Hawks.

Meanwhile…

"That was highly inconsiderate of you Master Cyclonis." A voice said calmly as Master Cyclonis whirled towards the source of the voice, "If you had merely asked me to meet with you, I would have been willing… It is not as if I have any real loyalty to the so called 'Free Atmos.'"

"Magus Psi, how did you arrive here? I know the Dark Ace did not bring you in yet." Master Cyclonis replied, still searching for the source of the voice.

"No, I arranged for the Storm Hawks to play with him for a little while… I have to entertain myself somehow. As for how I got here, I teleported myself here when I decided to help you with your little projects." The voice of Magus Psi continued, "In exchange though, you will become my student, since I think we can all acknowledge that you are not yet my peer."

"I am supposed to find this deal amicable?" Master Cyclonis countered, holding back a remark about the arrogance of this man.

"I am not arrogant; it is merely a fact of the current situation. I can create crystals of any type, including ones never seen before. Can you do that? No, given that you are still attempting to master the creation of a telepathic crystal, something which I obviously must have done already is I know what you are thinking." Magus Psi explained in a conciliatory tone.

"You have made your point…" Master Cyclonis responded thoughtfully. While the concept of becoming a student to someone else was repulsive, if his teaching could shorten the length of time necessary for her to master such power, then she would swallow her pride for the time being. With her mind made up, she simply waited for Magus to respond.

"I see you have reached a decision…" Psi said calmly as he appeared in front of Master Cyclonis, "You have great potential; already you can change one crystal into another type, now we simply have to extend that principal further…"


	3. Chapter 3

**Darkening Skies: The Shadow-hand of Cyclonis**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 3**

After helping to clean up the damage caused by their battle with the Dark Ace, the Storm Hawks gathered together on the Condor's bridge to discuss what had happened. The meeting was mostly Piper's idea, but Aerrow agreed that it was necessary. This was a new change of tactics for the Cyclonians, going after an individual rather than a larger objective like a terra. This meant that Magus Psi must have had something important that Master Cyclonis wanted; whether it was knowledge or a weapon of some sort, they did not know yet.

"Since he has nowhere to be seen after the battle was over, I think we can safely assume that he was captured, especially given the way the Dark Ace left the fight." Piper explained as she looked through various notes on recently observed Cyclonian activities. "The only problem is that I can't figure out why they would want him, I've never heard of Magus Psi before today… It's possible he's some kind of escaped scientist from Cyclonia, but there's no way to tell."

"Do we know where they might have taken him?" Aerrow asked as he examined a map of the terra the fair had been on.

"I'm afraid not; in all the confusion, there wasn't anyone who noticed where the Dark Ace was heading to." Piper said in a disappointed tone as she finished flipping through her notes. No one noticed Stork's world-weary sigh at hearing that as he murmured something about inevitably perishing as they snuck in somewhere. "On the other hand, if we could contact Starling we might not need to sneak into Cyclonia to find out what the deal is." Piper continued a moment later, "Do you know of any way we could get a hold of her Aerrow?"

"No, she's usually the one who initiates contact." Aerrow said with a shrug, "I'd imagine that if something big was going on, she'd probably come to us first if she thought she needed help."

"Still, I think we need to figure this out as soon as we can. To aid in that, I've done some research on a nearby Cyclonian relay station. With a well-timed raid we could intercept some vital information about troop movements along the Cyclonian border; which in turn will give us a good idea on when we might be able to sneak in." Piper said as she pulled out a map showing a small terra.

"I hate to interrupt, but if we want to avoid a horrible burning death in the Wastelands, we need to pick up some more engine crystals for the Condor." Stork interrupted suddenly, tapping the power gauge as he did so, "A few of the crystals were damaged during our miraculous escape from the Cyclonians a few days ago. I'm honestly surprised we didn't crash in the Wastelands before we even got here."

"How long do we have to wait until the next shipment arrives here Stork?"

"A day or two at the most, I suppose, I think it will probably be plenty of time to contemplate our inevitable demise at the hands of the Cyclonians."

"Thank you Stork… Well, Piper, that gives us some time to refine the plan before the actual briefing itself." Aerrow said as he turned back to examine the map further.

Meanwhile…

"So, Shar, have you ever served aboard a crystal freighter before?" the freighter captain asked the young black haired man in front of him, regarding the applicant with a critical eye.

"Never in a formal capacity sir, although as my brother can attest to, I was quite efficient in my work and always finished loading my share of the cargo in under the allotted time." Shar said, with just a slight hint of nervousness tinting his voice, this was his first time applying for a job as leader of a loading team and; while he had the qualifications, the captain might overlook that in favor of someone with more experience.

"Well son, you look to be one of the best candidates for the position." The captain said as he scanned through the meager list of other applicants for the position. With all the young people wanting to become Sky Knights these days, thanks in part to the exploits of the Storm Hawks, fewer people wanted to work in the industries that helped support the heroes they idolized. "We'll see how you work out, when can you start?"

"Right away sir!" Shar said happily, "When is our first shipment?"

"Day after tomorrow at mid-day, don't be late."

"I won't sir!"

Several minutes later…

Shar entered his apartment, practically beaming with excitement at the opportunity he had. After setting down the mail he had picked up downstairs, he slumped down in his favorite chair, suddenly weary. In the kitchen, the sounds of a meal being made stopped as his brother looked into the room.

"How did it go?" Shar's brother asked as he looked into the room.

"Great! Captain Appian decided to hire me; I ship out the day after tomorrow!" Shar exclaimed happily as he searched through his mail, quickly scanning through a letter from his parents on Terra Neon. By the looks of things they were doing well, he would read the letter more in-depth later.

"I leave here, my crew is shipping out tonight and we got a big cargo to load." His brother said as he grabbed up a duffel bag of personal gear, "I made meals so you didn't burn down the apartment complex while I'm gone. I'll be back in three days, good luck on your first day."

"Yeah thanks… Good journey." Shar said as his brother walked out the door. As soon as he was alone, his face seemed to melt slightly and with frustration he let his face dissolve back into its original form. With an irritated grunt, Marrshal stood up and walked over to a nearby mirror, examining his form as he watched it melt from the stocky youthful form of Shar into the thinner, older form of his normal body. Before he could stop himself, one of his hands had instinctively reached back to pull his hood over his face, but his current outfit had no such accommodation. For nearly a week now he had been wearing the face of this young man, while the real Shar quietly slept his days away in a special Cyclonian prison located deep in his private base of operations on Terra Nocturne. After resting for a few minutes, Marrshal willed his face to change back into the form of Shar's face and watched in satisfaction as it did so, his body quickly following suit. The experimental surgery he had performed on himself had been worth every risk since it had given him the ability to change into any form he wished. Granted, he had needed permission from Master Cyclonis to use so many crystals on himself at once and the experiment had drained the energies from several cloaking crystals, a few specialized swarm crystals designed to produce extra cells rather than an insect swarm and several messenger crystals, but he could now modify his body's structure at will. The messenger crystals had enhanced his memory, allowing him to perfectly recall anything that he had seen or heard, which allowed him to accurately imitate the people he often disguised himself as. Shar's family had certainly not noticed, even Shar's parents were convinced he was their son. At least, so far… Marrshal did not have the young man's entire history so he could only answer questions about events in his life that had occurred during the past year and a half. It would likely be sufficient for the duration of his mission.

Thinking of his mission, a slight grin crossed his face. He had chosen young Shar because the young man was skilled at his job and his youth would guarantee that he could be hired at a lower wage than more experienced crew leaders. Observation of Captain Appian had allowed Marrshal to determine how the man would react under most given circumstances; this ability to deduce the actions of others had always been one he had cultivated and his enhancements had further refined his skills. This was especially important now since Shar had just been hired onto one of the freighters that ran crystals from the main mine of Free Atmos.

Elsewhere, inside a rock ridge relatively near to Terra Gale…

"What a nice haul!" Snipe proclaimed loudly as the Talons finished unloading the last of the crystals they had seized into the rock caverns that made up the Cyclonian raiding base. This had been the second freighter the strike force had raided, imprisoning the crews and transferring the crystal cargo before leaving the freighter to be torn up by the storms created by the crystal Master Cyclonis had given them.

"I agree with you for once, Snipe." Ravess said icily as she examined her violin to ensure it had not been damaged, "But we need to be careful, if we hit every freighter that passes by all the time the Sky Knights might get suspicious."

"If they do, we'll simply squash 'em." Snipe boasted, patting his mace confidently with one hand.

"That's not the point of this mission; we want to hurt the Sky Knights as much as possible without bringing them down on us. If a Sky Knight Squadron disappears in an area where several freighters have already vanished, it will look far more suspect than a few freighters occasionally vanishing. It's a matter of proportions, if at first we don't hit every freighter, eventually people will become used to a slight shortage of crystals. If we then begin slowly increasing the percentage of ships we hit, the supply of crystals will slowly decrease until it is too late for them to mount an effective defense." Ravess explained in a confident tone as she began setting up her violin stand.

"And then smash!" Snipe exclaimed gleefully.

"Yes and then we smash…" Ravess said as she adjusted her instrument and playing a few notes to make sure the violin was perfectly tuned, "Now, if you don't mind, I have some practicing to do."

A few days later, on the Condor…

"Come on, we've been stuck on this terra for a week now Aerrow!" Finn whined as he strode onto the bridge, "Stork's freighter should have been here five days ago, why are we still here?

"Finn, calm down. I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation." Aerrow said calmly as he hid his own frustration, "When Stork gets back from the market; we can ask him if there's been any word. It's not like we can leave if we don't have engine crystals to power the Condor." Privately though, Aerrow conceded to himself that if the freighter didn't arrive soon he'd much rather barter with someone then stay here any longer. Glancing back over his shoulder and out the bridge windows, Aerrow spotted Stork and Piper returning from the town, both of them carrying a fair amount of supplies. Among the gear, Aerrow spotted a few components necessary for the construction of a shield array. At least that was progressing at a good rate.

"You'll never guess what I found guys!" Piper sang happily as she practically danced onto the bridge with Stork plodding along miserably behind her.

"I hope its engine crystals…" Finn said grumpily from his position near the rear of the bridge.

"Yep!" Piper said, proudly holding up a deep blue crystal, "I got several more in the box here."

"How'd you get them?"

"Evidently the leaders here sent a message to one of the neighboring terras requesting that they send over any spare crystals they could when the freighter didn't arrive within a couple days of the expected arrival time." Stork said in an even tone, "That shipment arrived today and we were lucky enough to get the crystals needed to repair the Condor. Most of the region is experiencing a severe crystal shortage, no doubt a harbinger to some horrible fate that is about to befall us all…"

"Aw, come on Stork, cheer up a little. A least now we can fix your baby up nice and shipshape and then be on our way." Piper said, resting a hand on Stork's shoulder for a second before heading over to replace the damaged engine crystals, "However, we should probably investigate this as well, if the Cyclonians have begun some massive assault against our shipping lines, it could paralyze any defense we might try and mount. What should take priority Aerrow?"

"I… guess we should put a priority on finding out what happened to the freighters. We can stop by another terra and let the Sky Knights there know what is going on with Magus Psi. We can also find out if there have been any other instances of freighters going missing. While I'm sure they're searching for the missing freighters, there might be a larger pattern or some common origin that they might have missed." Aerrow said hesitantly at first but growing more confident in his decision as he thought it through, "If only one freighter has gone missing then it was probably just a navigational mistake and we can resume our search for Magus Psi."

"Makes sense." Piper said after a minute's consideration, "So just as soon as we get these new crystals in place, we can move out."


	4. Chapter 4

**Darkening Skies: The Shadow-hand of Cyclonis**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 4**

Shar sat upright, groaning as the ringing in his ears slowly faded. Last he could remember, the captain of the ship had warned the crew about an oncoming storm. Then something had blasted a large section of the hull in.

'Ah, yes, that would be Ravess and Snipe raiding the vessel I'm on…' he groused to himself as he stood up, 'Then again, in the panic of this raid I should be able to grab the objects I require.' Without wasting any more time, he hurried to the bridge.

As he burst onto the bridge, he found it in a state of barely controlled chaos as the captain gave orders in an attempt to avoid capture by the Cyclonian destroyer that had emerged from the storm clouds. Quickly glancing to one side, Shar noticed an odd looking watch lying on top of a log book of some sort. Making sure not to be seen by any of the crew, he snatched up the book and watch, pocketing both before turning to exit the bridge. Maybe not the most elegant job he had ever pulled, but he had little time to secure these items before Snipe undoubtedly smashed everything in sight. As he dashed down the hall leading from the bridge, another explosion rocked the vessel, forcing him to brace himself on a nearby bulkhead to keep his balance. Another explosion quickly followed the first, followed by several more before the lights went out. Letting his eyes adjust to the lightning lit environment of the ship, Shar quickly ducked into a space in-between two pipes along the wall. A moment later, a boarding ramp ripped through the side of the vessel and several dozen Talons trooped down onto the deck. Showing typical Talon thoroughness, they marched right past him without even noticing Shar. With a tired sigh of irritation, Shar stepped out of his hiding spot and confronted another group of Talons that marched onboard.

"Hold up please, I have vital information for Master Cyclonis." Shar said as he held up his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"Err-um… okay…" the lead Talon stammered out, clearly surprised by this turn of events, "Follow us then…" The man finally said, turning around and leading Shar back up into the destroyer.

A few minutes later, Shar stood before Snipe on the destroyer's bridge. After the Talon leader announced his presence, the large commander turned to face the troop of Talons that had escorted Shar to the bridge.

"What is this? Send this grunt to the brig with the rest of his crew." Snipe growled out in a tone that was both irritated and dismissive at the same time.

"I have important information for your master." Shar said in a pleading tone, holding up the watch and log book that he had taken from the bridge of the freighter.

"And how is that crap important information?" Snipe said harshly as he snatched up the log book and watch. After looking through the log book for a second, Snipe slapped the book shut and smashed both the book and the watch with his mace, "Didn't look all that useful to me…" the blockhead said with a sneer on his face. Instantly the pleading expression that Shar had worn on his face changed to one of cold fury, surprising Snipe; just who did this runt think he was, a Talon commander?

"You will regret your ignorance." Shar ground out as the Talons hauled him away to the brig where the rest of the freighter crew was being held. A few minutes later, he was rudely tossed into a cell across from where the other crew members were being held.

While his first instinct was to express his outrage at the stupidity of Snipe, Shar instead repressed his rage; there would be time enough to indulge it later. He quickly pulled out a small motor from one of his arm guards and popped two plates off of the other guard. He then popped two small crystals out of the belt he was wearing and assembled these various components into a small bird-like machine. After glancing at his cell door to make sure that no one was watching, he cupped his hands around the device and spoke a short message into the bowl formed by his hands. Satisfied with his handiwork, he set the blue energy crystal in the tiny machine spinning and then threw the mechanical bird out his cell window, smiling as he watched it disappear into the distance. Now that he had sent his message, it was time to arrange for an early release from these confines.

Aboard the Condor…

Having spent the past few days hopping from terra to terra, the Storm Hawks were beginning to get some idea of the scope of their task. Piper had pinned up a large map of Atmos on one of the rear bridge walls and had begun coloring in terras with different colors to represent areas where crystal freighters had never arrived at their intended destinations. So far, of the four terras they had visited, three of them had a missing freighter and, according to a map Piper had dug up, those three terras were all served by the same freighter route. They had also heard from other terras as the leaders of those terras sent out messengers to request spare crystals from terras that had just received shipments. All told, it looked like five to ten percent of the crystals that had been shipped never reached their final destinations, and Piper had determined that the crystals all came from the same place: the main crystal mine of the Free Atmos. It had been easy enough to deduce by tracing the interrupted routes back to their sources, only to find that the routes supposedly started on terras that were not exactly known for producing crystals. Such secrecy could only have meant that these crystals came from the main mine, which was a major lifeline for Free Atmos. Without that mine, it would be much harder to obtain the crystals needed to fend off the Cyclonian Empire.

"Great, so we've determined that all these missing freighters are coming from the same source, now what do we do?" Finn asked after Piper finished presenting her conclusions.

"Well, the Sky Knight Council on Atmosia would likely have a map of the routes serving the mine as well as the location of the mine itself, just in case." Piper said in a hopeful tone, "I'm sure we can convince them of the urgency of this matter."


	5. Chapter 5

**Darkening Skies: The Shadow-hand of Cyclonis**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 5**

A couple days later, Aerrow and Piper walked confidently toward the Sky Knight Council building on Terra Atmosia, only to find an unexpected surprise blocking their way in.

"Starling! Ohmygosh,howawesomeisittoseeyouhere!" Piper sputtered out rapidly, obviously excited to meet the famous Sky Knight again.

"Hey Starling, good to see you again." Aerrow said casually, smiling at Starling slightly as the pair drew closer, "What are you doing here?"

"I just finished meeting with the council about the missing freighters, same as you intended to do I suppose." Starling replied, smiling back at the two Storm Hawks, "They wouldn't hand over the map though, two missing freighters isn't enough considering the violent storm activity that's been observed in the area recently."

"Violent storm activity? That alone sounds suspicious to me." Piper commented thoughtfully, "But they won't help us out will they?"

"Not knowingly, but I managed to get a pretty good look at the map while they were discussing whether or not to hand it over to me, I can at least get us to the general area where we might find the trade routes. But from there, it'll be visual searching all the way until we find what we're looking for." Starling whispered with a conspiratorial grin that faded off into a serious expression as she continued talking.

"Still, it's a place to start." Aerrow added optimistically.

"Now careful, force the crystal energy to do what you want it to, maintain your control rather than let it build up in a chain reaction as you are more used to doing." The rough voice of Magus Psi admonished her as the crystal she was forming flashed brilliantly and nearly exploded, "You are skilled in converting between known energies and building the energies in any crystal to overload, but what you do not realize is that it is just as easy to create new types of crystal energy, it just requires a shift in paradigm."

"It is amazing how much difference such a seemingly simple thing can make and how difficult it is to achieve." Master Cyclonis said with some frustration as she worked to maintain her focus. Slowly, the crystal she was working on formed, until after what seemed like an eternity the crystal was complete and glowed with great power.

"With time and experience, you will be able to create more powerful crystals with less effort and faster than you have today, but I sense that you do not wish to wait that long, so I present you with a kind of graduation gift." Magus Psi stated in a flat tone as he pulled out a small black crystal that flashed occasionally with streaks of red lightning, "This is the Chaos Crystal, the manifestation of chaos in our universe. This will expand your powers to their fullest, only limited by your imagination."

"Really… How fascinating, only limited by my imagination?" Master Cyclonis said thoughtfully. A sudden purring sound emanated through the room to accompany her musings, "What was that?"

"The crystal is semi sentient as a guard on its power, it responds to your emotions to some degree." Magus Psi explained as he watched with an expression of disinterest, "Unfortunately, I have nothing more to teach you so I must go now, before you decide to attempt to force me to reveal all my knowledge to you." Without waiting for a response from Master Cyclonis, Psi faded out.

Unknown Realm…

"The plan is complete sir; I have given Master Cyclonis the Chaos Crystal as well as the power necessary to control it." Magus Psi said as he appeared in the inky blackness of the void, his human form dissolving away to leave only a black-robed wearing shoulder and chest armor.

"Excellent Psychos, we have helped her with her goals, there is no reason to interfere further until the time comes. Let the battle for the future of this universe begin." The voice of the Ageless Specter echoed flatly in the void, "Until we make our next move however, there are other universes with different existence parameters that we must deal with. Come, one of them is reaching a critical juncture."

"As you wish father." Psychos said as he disappeared and the void broke apart into non-existence.

Cyclonia…

As she pondered the mysterious departure of Magus Psi, Master Cyclonis suddenly became aware of an approaching source of crystal energy. As she turned to look, a small mechanical bird shot into the room, circling downward and slowing down to land on her shoulder. She immediately recognized the construct as one of Marrshal's little creations, meant to carry important messages while he was undercover. She gently touched the message crystal to activate it and listened closely.

"Greetings my lady, I have unfortunate news. Although I managed to secure the materials needed to find the mining terra, the idiot destroyed them and had me imprisoned in their base of operations. I shall escape and meet you at soonest possible convenience to discuss alterations that may need to be made to the plan. Message end."

Master Cyclonis set the bird on a nearby ledge, calmly breathing in and out.

"SNIPE, YOU FOOL!" she suddenly screamed, her enraged yell echoing harshly off the walls of the chamber as one of the crystals on her machine shattered. They had been so close to finding the location of the main Atmosian mine! Marrshal should not have attempted to give the plans to that blockhead, but she would ensure that such a mistake would not happen again. Taking a minute to calm down, Master Cyclonis walked over to the scattered remains of the crystal her rage had broken, picking up the pieces and reforging them into the original crystal. Nevermind this setback, perhaps it could be made to work for her. After all, why simply settle for cutting off the supply of crystals when she could inflict much greater amounts of damage?

With a smile on her face, Master Cyclonis disappeared in a flash of light.

Shar calmly and rhythmically tapped out the passage of time, counting down to when he would act. He had memorized several maps of Atmos and had correlated his current location with mapped geographical features to figure out his current location and combined that with the rate of speed at which his messenger bird traveled; he figured that Master Cyclonis would be receiving his message sometime in the next thirty minutes or so. After that, she would likely teleport herself here to punish Snipe for his stupidity. She would also probably have some kind of punishment for him as well, seeing as he had been too eager to deliver the information and had presented it to Snipe. Well, patience was a virtue he had been lacking and it was only fair that he be punished. However, it wouldn't do to stay in this cell; he may as well face his punishment as a free man.

With his mind made up, Marrshal removed the chest armor he was wearing and removed a deep violet crystal from a hidden pocket in his bandolier. Looking at the backside of his chest plate, he traced the outline of a jagged knife edge, peeling off the thin metallic tape that held his assassin knife in place. Having extracted his blade from the armor, he quickly locked his oblivion crystal into the crystal adapter in the hilt and twisted the handle, watching with satisfaction as the blade manifested a deep violet energy aura. It had taken him and Master Cyclonis (well mostly Master Cyclonis) a long time to perfect an oblivion blade and it had proven to be a most useful tool, able to cut through anything by sending whatever came in direct contact with the energy blade to oblivion. Now that he had his weapon assembled, it was time to forego this disguise.

He reached down into his uniform, quickly pulling out a heavy, long sleeved, floor-length hooded robe that had been stored in a special compression package. Moving back out of sight, he allowed himself to melt back into his normal body, quickly stripping off his workman's outfit and removing the thin ribbed chest armor he had on underneath. Normally the Cyclonian crest would have been inlaid into this armor, but on an undercover mission such a thing would be a liability, so only a dark round disk showed where the crest would normally be worn. He quickly slipped into his robe, buckling the front of it shut, then pulled the armor on over the top of it. He pulled up his hood, hiding his face before he allowed that to revert to its normal form as well. As a final, almost trivial detail, he wrapped a scarf around his neck, allowing the ends to trail back over his shoulders, the reverse of the way one would normally wear a scarf.

While most might consider his need to change into his formal uniform the epitome of vanity, in this case it served a purpose. His current robe had tiny stealth crystals woven into the fabric itself, rendering him difficult to see under most circumstances and stealth would be a necessity in his escape. After all, there was no sure way to know how long it would take Master Cyclonis to arrive, so he might need to hide for a little while. With two quick slashes of his blade, the cell door was unlocked and off its hinges. Rather than letting it fall to the ground and drawing the attention of the guards, Marrshal grabbed the door by the window bars and gently lifted it back and out of the doorframe. Keeping his grip on the door secure, he used one hand to grab the outer side of the door before bringing his other hand around to grab the bars from the same side. He then slowly and quietly backed out of the cell, gently settling the cell door back into place and making sure it would not fall into the cell.

'Bad cell design…' he thought as he quietly made his way down the brig hallway, sneaking past a couple Talon patrols stationed at various locations near alarm boxes. By the looks of things, the guards were alert if not particularly observant. The slight background distortion caused by his passing was likely not noticed or, if it was, dismissed as a play of the lighting. After making his way pass the central security station for the prison and past a heavy security door, Marrshal found himself in a large underground cavern filled with boxes of various sizes. At one end, this cavern connected to another large cavern, although the view was obscured by the hull of a Cyclonian destroyer. Across from him, at about the same elevation, was a balcony accessed by a stairway running up from the cavern floor below. The balcony itself fronted an office complex of some sort aligned along a hall leading to another balcony that overlooked the clouds outside. Clearly Ravess was here as well, did these people just not understand the concept of stealth? That balcony to the outside would be easy to spot if anyone were actually looking for this place, which they would be as soon as too many freighters disappeared to be coincidence. Well, that was not his problem; he had other things to concern himself with.

Making his way through the maze of crates on the cavern floor, Marrshal silently boarded the destroyer, making his way to the bridge where he found Ravess and Snipe fighting about whose turn it was to lead the raid. Content to watch the free entertainment for the moment, Marrshal leaned back into the corner of the recessed door and waited. Master Cyclonis was no fool; she would appear here on the bridge, anticipating this as the most likely spot where Ravess and Snipe would be.

He did not have too long to wait, no more than fifteen minutes later, Master Cyclonis appeared on the bridge of the destroyer, her fury evident in her posture and facial expression. In an instant, the Talons that had been on the bridge fled in panic, clearly not wanting to be caught in the crossfire.

"Snipe, I would have a word with you…" she said, holding up a brilliant red-blue gem. In an instant, Snipe was enveloped in a fiery red aura and collapsed to the floor, writhing in pain. "Do you like it? It is a new pain inducing crystal I developed." Master Cyclonis intoned in an angry voice. After holding Snipe in the effect of the crystal for a few seconds longer, Master Cyclonis released him and looked around the bridge, her gaze finally settling on Marrshal's location. Rather than wait for Master Cyclonis to demand he appear, Marrshal allowed the cloaking effect to drop, startling Ravess with his sudden appearance.

"Ah Marrshal, so good of you to join us." Master Cyclonis said casually as she directed the pain crystal at him, "I trust this makes my point clear?"

"Immaculately clear, my lady." Marrshal responded hollowly, thankful that she had not used it on him, "I should have known better than to bring such things to Snipe."

"What did I do?" Snipe whined as he struggled back to his feet.

"You destroyed the items that would allow us to find the main Atmosian mine site Snipe!" Master Cyclonis shouted as she turned on Snipe, "What kind of fool destroys a book of directions as soon as it is handed to them?"

"Uh… me?" Snipe said in a confused tone as Ravess grinned a wicked little smile at her brother's discomfort.

"It appears you at least know that." Master Cyclonis said as she stepped back, turning her attention to Marrshal again, "Marrshal, I want you to take over this operation and make sure Ravess and Snipe secure the watch and log book required to find the mine."

"He can't do that!" Snipe burst out suddenly, an angry expression on his face, "He's not a commander!"

"Actually, he is." Master Cyclonis responded quietly, "I promoted him in secret to prevent word from getting out. Make sure you do not tell anyone about him or I will have your head." Not like it made much of a difference, as soon as the mission here had been completed, she would use her newly made memory crystal to erase all knowledge of Marrshal from Ravess and Snipe's minds. After waiting a second for the impact of her announcement to sink in, Master Cyclonis continued.

"Marrshal is to be the first one on board every vessel you raid so he can secure the log book and watch before the crew has a chance to dispose of or destroy them. Now then… Ravess continue the preparations for the next raid; Snipe, you help her. Marrshal, come with me, I wish to inspect the crystals we have managed to secure."

"As you wish Master Cyclonis."

"Yes, my lady."

Master Cyclonis led Marrshal through the maze of crates to a location where she was certain that no Talons would overhear them.

"I have a special mission for you Marrshal." She stated plainly as she turned to face the spymaster, "I want you to deliver a package to the Storm Hawks as only you know how."

"I understand my lady."

"Good," Master Cyclonis said as she presented a small secure box, "do not, under any circumstance, open this box. Make sure Piper is the one who receives this gift and make sure that she will be the one to open the box."

"Easy enough to accomplish, I shall not fail in this endeavor." Marrshal sad as she handed him the box. It might be a challenge to accomplish both this objective and secure the needed navigational supplies, but what fun was life without the occasional challenge? Besides, he already had an idea as to how he might accomplish both aims.

After Master Cyclonis had left, Marrshal made his way through the destroyer's lower decks, eventually finding a Talon commando who was currently serving on guard duty.

"Hey, who are you?" the Talon said as he moved to block Marrshal's path.

"Oh, greetings, Talon, I am merely a messenger from the master who enjoys a quiet walk in the lower decks (I am your commander, listen up, I have a mission for you)." Marrshal said; using the context code he used to communicate with his operatives.

"I see, well, I can understand where you might want to walk down here instead of up on the general crew decks or gunnery decks (As you wish commander, I assume it is assisting a covert ops mission?)."

"Oh yes, I cannot stand those decks, what with all the practice firing the other Talons conduct up there, particularly just before a raid (Correct, I need you to pretend to kill me during a raid on a freighter)."

"We do need to keep in practice at times (When do you want me to carry out these orders?)"

"Yes, I'm sure they are all hopeful that their hours of practice will pay off if they manage to catch the Storm Hawks for our master (When we first encounter the Storm Hawks, I will give them a 'gift' from Master Cyclonis. Immediately afterward, you must shoot me, I will handle the rest)."

"It's only a matter of time before we take down the Storm Hawks." The guard said as he stepped back into his standard watch position.

"Yes, but only if we are careful in how we go about it." Marrshal said; giving the guard a salute as any standard messenger would before he continued down the hallway. The advantage he had of being spymaster of Cyclonia for the past two years was that he had been the one to build up his network of operatives within the ranks of the Talons and had ensured that regardless of the secrecy of the mission, he would always have at least one or two operatives there to report back to him. With that operative's help, it would be easy to get the Storm Hawks to take the box, leaving him in a better position to secure the log book and watch. Once he had those two items, he would undoubtedly have to break some sort of code to find out how to navigate to the mine, but then it would all be over for the Atmosians…


	6. Chapter 6

**Darkening Skies: The Shadow-hand of Cyclonis**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 6**

Piper sighed as she dropped the binoculars to her side and stared blankly out the front windows of the Condor. For the past three weeks, they had been surveying this entire area, looking for any sign of Cyclonian activity and, aside from the occasional storm brewing off in the distance and the massive cloud bank currently off to the west, there was absolutely nothing remarkable about this area of Atmos. While it was thrilling to be working with Starling on this mission, the monotony of scanning nearly empty skies spoiled the joy of it slightly, particularly when one was engaged in the process of scanning.

"Empty skies today?" a voice asked from behind her, causing Stork to start, but Piper was not so easily startled.

"Oh, hi Starling," Piper said as she turned around as saw Starling standing at the rear of the bridge, "Yeah, there's not much going on out there today, there's a storm brewing off to the south a ways, but it doesn't look like the kind of storm that would be created by a mass of firebolt crystals."

"It could be created by a weather crystal though, I got a report of a freighter that was raided awhile back that was transporting one, the crew just recently escaped from a Cyclonian prison and reported the raid." Starling said as she held up a scroll.

"Well… In that case we should check it out, Stork, set a course for that storm."

"You… want me to fly into a storm likely filled with deadly lightning and high speed winds that will undoubtedly smash us against a rock outcropping before frying us with thousands of volts of electricity?" Stork said as he looked from the storm to Piper, his eye twitching slightly.

"Come on Stork, we've been through worse."

"Right, I'm sure we'll be just fine… It could be worse; we could have to fly into a blizzard-cane instead of a normal storm." Stork said as he adjusted their heading.

"I'll go tell the guys to get ready just in case that storm is hiding Cyclonians." Piper said as she walked off the bridge after Starling.

"Take your time commander, there is no reason to rush into this." Marrshal told Snipe calmly as he watched the destroyer climb up through the storm clouds toward the freighter they had caught in their trap. Since having secured the log book and watch about six days ago, Marrshal had decided to draw out the process of raiding each freighter to increase the likelihood of them being spotted by the Storm Hawks. Since he had first spotted them a week and a half ago, Marrshal had been keeping a close eye on the Storm Hawks, making sure not to get too close. But after he had secured the log book and watch, he had arranged for the release of a freighter crew the Cyclonians had captured. In actuality, the three men that had escaped had been rescued thanks to the accidental crash of a prisoner transport that allowed them to reach one of the free terras and safety. They had then reported the stolen weather crystals and it looked like the Storm Hawks had finally gotten the message.

"Can we attack yet Marrshal?" Snipe asked in a sarcastic tone, "Or are we just going to follow the freighter all the way to another terra?"

"Patience is a virtue commander; one even people such as ourselves should indulge in, it makes many tasks easier or at least more bearable." Marrshal said as he checked with a nearby observation post to see where the Storm Hawks were. He looked back to watch the weather crystal as it slowly spun in the machine that used it to create the storm they now hid in before he checked on the location of the target freighter. Just a few more seconds…

"Alright commander, you may proceed with the raid on the freighter at your leisure." Marrshal said as he walked off the bridge, covertly dropping a small beetle-like machine near the weather crystal as he did so.

"Whoa!" Stork cried out in surprise as the Condor barely missed running into a spire of rock that just seconds before had been hidden behind a thick layer of cloud. A sudden violent gust of wind threatened to push the Condor into a deadly embrace with the spire, but Stork had been expecting as much and easily compensated for the force of the wind. As he steered through the vicious currents of wind and around lightning streaked clouds, Stork was suddenly very glad that he would at least be able to stay on the Condor rather than have to zip through this maelstrom on a skimmer. Through a small break in the clouds, he thought he had seen a freighter, but in the twisting pillars of dense vapor whipped about but the wind it was difficult to get a good bearing on where he might have seen the vessel. Not that they would probably survive long enough to find any vessel in this mess.

As he boarded the freighter, Marrshal pressed a small radio transmitter hidden under his Cyclonian crest. Immediately the transmitter signaled another small radio that he had left on the destroyer's bridge, activating the mechanism he had left there. The beetle opened its back, allowed a spring loaded gun inside to shot a small blocker crystal straight onto the weather crystal, canceling its power instantly.

Outside the vessel, the powerful storm that had been churning around them instantly began dissipating, the real source of its power cut off in an instant. As the storm clouds collapsed around them, all three vessels that had formerly been caught in the grip of the storm were revealed, two of them locked in a death grip while the third cruised along some distance away.

"We got company!" Stork shouted into the intercom as he saw the freighter and the Cyclonian destroyer ahead. Probably the rest of the team already knew, but it never hurt to let them know anyways.

Down in the hanger, the rest of the Storm Hawks scrambled, leaping onto their skimmers and launching as soon as their engines were going. As soon as Aerrow was out of the hanger, he realized that they were seriously outgunned but the Cyclonians were not scrambling any skimmers to counter them.

"They don't seem to know we're here!" Piper shouted up to him as they rapidly approached the besieged freighter.

"Okay then, we'll land on the freighter, try to evacuate as many of the crew as we can. Finn, you provide cover fire for the rest of us." Aerrow yelled back to the rest of the team as he continued to wonder about the lack of Talon squadrons. With a quick little adjustment of the controls, he brought himself in line to land on the freighter's hull. A quick nod to Radarr and his wings retracted, landing him smoothly, if a bit loudly, on the freighter. "Alright everyone, move out!"

Marrshal looked up at the freighter ceiling as a muted thud sounded from above. He quickly whirled around, looking back at the Talon operative who was following him, nodding to the man as he ducked around a corner. A second later, Marrshal emerged in his guise as Shar, complete with a crew uniform that was slightly torn and dirty, as if he had tried to resist to Talon that was now leading him back to the destroyer's brig. Glancing down a side hall, he saw his opportunity to escape from the Talon that had him…

Aerrow looked cautiously around the corner in the hall, expecting to see a Talon ambush waiting for them. Instead, there was nothing but empty hall stretching off to connect with another hallway that ran the length of the freighter. Suddenly, he heard a sound echoing down the hallway coming from the opposite corridor. It sounded like running footsteps. Suddenly, a young man burst into the hall, turning to run down the cross corridor.

"Piper, we found one." Aerrow said as he stepped out into the intersection, causing the fleeing crew member to skid to a halt just short of colliding with Aerrow.

"Oh, a Storm Hawk, I'm saved!" the kid cried happily. "Quickly, this will be safe with you!" he continued quickly, holding up a secure lockbox, "You can't let the Cyclonians get their hands on this crystal, it'll be the end of Atmosia as we know it, particularly if they get it to someone called Magus P… AAUHHHH!!!" The kid's last sentence ended in an odd shriek as he slumped to the floor, his eyes growing glassy as he slid to the floor in a heap, the back of his uniform growing dark and wet. Aerrow looked up in surprise to see a Talon standing at the far end of the hall, his weapons staff still glowing with the energy that had just ended the life of an innocent crewman. The Talon must have recognized Aerrow because he turned and ran as soon as Aerrow's blades ignited.

"Piper, is there anything you can do for him?" Aerrow asked as he knelt down next to the kid.

"I'm sorry Aerrow, he's already gone." Piper said quietly as she checked the kid's neck and pulled her hand back, her voice catching in her throat as she did so. "This must be really important if that kid paid with his life for trying to get it to us," she continued solemnly as she held up the lockbox the kid had clutched to his chest after being shot. A sudden rumble coursed through the ship, knocking them both off balance. Through a window farther down the hall, they watched as the light was quickly blotted out, rendering the window dark except for the occasional flick of lightning. "I'm sorry Aerrow, but there's nothing more we can do here. If the storm is returning that must mean they're trying to escape. If we want to rescue the crew, we need to follow them."

"You're right." Aerrow said as he stood up, "I'm sorry kid…" he said before both he and Piper ran back down the hallway toward where their skimmers were parked. As they reached the roof access, they met up with Junko and Starling, both of whom were also unable to rescue any of the crew.

"Is something wrong Aerrow?" Starling asked as she approached; a concerned look on her face.

"Not now." Aerrow said, his guilt at failing to save the kid's life having changed into determination over the past minute. He quickly climbed the ladder in front of him, racing over to his skimmer before anyone else had even reached the top of the ladder. Howling winds whipped at him as he scanned the storm filled sky, ignoring a trilled inquiry from Radarr as he searched for any sign of the destroyer. Suddenly he spotted it, the tail ends of the engines disappearing behind a nearby cloud bank. "There they go!" he yelled, pointing at the clouds the vessel had disappeared behind as the rest of his team mounted their skimmers. As the four of them took off, Aerrow waved a signal to Finn, who quickly joined them in their pursuit as the Condor roared after them into the storm.

As the freighter slowly dropped toward the Wastelands and its inevitable destruction, a lone figure slowly stood up, his features melting from those of Shar to Marrshal. With a slight groan, Marrshal reached back and pulled a package of red dye out of his uniform, dropping the nearly empty bag to the ground with a wet thump.

"No need to feel sorry Aerrow; that shot to the back really did not hurt thanks to the armor under this uniform." Marrshal said as he wandered back to the room he had used to change into his Shar disguise. He had to admit, this was one of the greater tests of his form-changing abilities, he had needed to shift the positions of his major arteries to prevent Piper from feeling his pulse, a process that actually turned out to hurt quite a bit. Reaching his first destination, he quickly changed back to his official attire, leaving his outfit for Shar behind… Then again, that identity might come in handy again Marrshal thought to himself as he repacked Shar's outfit. After changing back, he pulled out a small dark crystal that Master Cyclonis had given him back when he had first become her spymaster: a teleportation crystal. With a slight grin, he activated the crystal and disappeared.

He reappeared an instant later on the bridge of the destroyer, quickly noticing that the blocker crystal had been removed from the weather crystal, likely by his operative. Everything seemed to be going according to plan so far; except Snipe probably had no idea the Storm Hawks were chasing him.

"Greetings commander." Marrshal said by way of introduction, his sudden comment startling Snipe, "I guess you thought you were rid of me?"

"Of course not, I doubt even bleach could get rid of you." Snipe groused as he turned back to his bridge.

"I will choose to take that as a compliment." Marrshal said, striding forward until he was next to Snipe, "You do realize the Storm Hawks are in pursuit correct?"

"What? Well, it's not like we have many skimmers to deploy against them." Snipe countered in exasperation.

"Talon squadrons are not required." Marrshal said as he took over the helm, knocking the Talon driving the destroyer to one side. With a sudden jerking motion, he drove the destroyer down into the clouds, breaking through into the Wastelands below the clouds. "Now, then, there is an advantage to knowing the geography of the Wastelands," he continued explaining as he slowly brought the destroyer back up and under an overhang, "Deploy the anchor cables and turn off all engines and weapons. We should be able to hide here, the overhanging stalactites providing a fairly effective shield against them spotting us."

"Why don't we just blow the Storm Hawks out of the sky?"

"We have other uses for them. Besides, this could be fun and you do not want to interrupt my entertainment. If you want to do something, use the radio to contact Ravess and tell her to start preparing the base for evacuation. When we get back, it will be time to leave your little base of operations behind."

"Fine, whatever." Snipe growled as walked over to the radio.

Aerrow and the rest of the team broke through into the Wastelands a minute behind the cruiser, only to find no sign of the massive vessel. Breaking off into two search teams, the Storm Hawks combed the area but found no sign of the destroyer. Even after they had covered each others search areas, there was still no sign of the warship after nearly an hour of searching.

"Aerrow, I hate to say it, but I don't think we're going to find them anytime soon. We should at least try and find out what it was the Cyclonians were after." Piper said as she put a reassuring hand on Aerrow's shoulder, "They have to have a base around here somewhere. We'll find it and take them down, okay?"

"I'll be fine Piper, I'm just frustrated with how complicated this is… First, this Magus Psi comes to us looking for protection except the Dark Ace manages to capture him right as we're fighting Talons. Then, these freighters begin disappearing thanks to our Cyclonian friends because they're searching for that crystal because Magus Psi needs it for something. What is the plan here? Is there even a plan here?"

"Let's go back and examine the crystal Aerrow, I'm sure that will provide us with some clue as to what this is about."

Aerrow stood behind Piper quietly as the crystal specialist carefully examined the lockbox they had been given. Piper had recognized the design of box as the kind used to carry unstable or powerful crystals to prevent them from discharging or breaking. The possibility that this might be a new Aurora Stone had crossed her mind, and if that were true, did she really have any right to open this box? Yes, she did, in order to find out why that kid had died, in order to find out what the Cyclonians where up to she had to open this box. Having made up her mind, Piper gently unhooked the latches that held the lid of the box on and lifted the lid off. Inside lay a deep indigo crystal that sparkled as if tiny stars floated across its surface.

"What is it?" Aerrow asked, leaning over Piper's shoulder to peer inside the box.

"Stay back please," Piper scolded Aerrow, "I've never seen a crystal like this before in all my years as a crystal refiner. I'm not sure what it will do…" Carefully reaching into the box, Piper gently picked up the crystal using a set of padded tongs.

"OUCH!" she suddenly cried as the crystal shattered into dozens of shards, several of them slicing into her hand. Quickly reaching for a finer set of tweezers, Piper started pulling the tiny fragments out of the slices in her hand. To her surprise, the shards seemed to be disappearing and she only managed to extract about half of the crystal pieces before she could not find any more. Frowning at her hand for a second, she noticed that Aerrow had retrieved some gauze and antiseptic from a nearby first aid kit and had started unwinding the cloth bandage from its roll.

"Thanks Aerrow, I think I can handle it from here."

"Nonsense, you can't use the hand you're wrapping, let me help," Aerrow said as he started wiping her injured hand with the antiseptic without waiting for Piper's permission. A few seconds later and her hand had been firmly wrapped in the gauze.

"There you go, all set." Aerrow said as he tucked the first aid kit away.

"Thanks Aerrow; that was kind of you," Piper said as she looked down at her hand. She was tempted to flex it just to see how it felt, but that would only reopen the cuts underneath the bandages, "I guess I really screwed up there, I can't believe I broke our only clue about what's going on."

"Piper, it's not your fault, you're always very careful." Aerrow said in a consoling tone, "I mean, the crystal continued breaking down even after the initial break. I may not know much about crystal refining, but I'd think a crystal that breaks that easily was unstable to begin with. How did they even manage to get the thing in the box to begin with?"

"You're right Aerrow…" Piper said with a sigh as she slid the box to one side, out of her main work area, "The Cyclonians probably didn't realize how fragile the crystal was when they decided to capture it. At least this way we've kept it out of Cyclonian hands forever, although we're still no closer to finding out what they're up to."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Aerrow said cheerfully, "Once we break up the Cyclonian center of operations here and free any prisoners, we can raid that relay station you mentioned awhile back. I'm sure we'll get plenty of information from there."

"Hey, that's a great idea; I'll get to work on some plans right away!" Piper exclaimed, her gloomy mood having lifted. As she pulled out maps and survey charts, Aerrow quietly left her alone so she could concentrate; a happy smile on his face.

"Well commander, we have been hiding down here for an hour or so now, it is probably time to go back up above the cloud layer." Marrshal said casually as he watched the helmsman steer around the rocky spires of the Wastelands.

"You mean the Storm Hawks are probably gone?" Snipe asked as he sulked in a corner of the bridge.

"Doubtful, the Storm Hawks are persistent foes; instead, Ravess has probably completed her task. This means that there is no reason to delay any longer; even if we do lose the Storm Hawks before arriving back at base, they will continue to search for the base since they know one must exist. The base is a liability now and will only be a hindrance to our future operations. Thus we lead them back to the base by 'accident' and let them gather a large force of Sky Knights to take the base out." Marrshal explained, his tone implying that he felt like he was talking to a five year old.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense." Snipe said in a defeated tone, clearly missing the implied insult in Marrshal's tone.

"Good, helmsman, take us up." Marrshal said as he pushed a small button and several small tremors ran through the deck plates.

"There they are!" Finn yelled as the massive destroyer exploded out of the clouds to the east and immediately began cruising away from the Condor. The search pattern Piper had laid out had been meticulous and that attention to detail was paying off now. Stork immediately set a pursuit course as Piper rushed up onto the bridge and grabbed a pair of binoculars.

"It looks like they're pretty damaged." Piper said, indicating the dozens of black scorch marks and other carbon scoring that colored the normally red vessel like tiger stripes. In several places small sections of the interior decks of the cruiser had been exposed to the open air. Evidently the cruiser had a difficult time navigating in the Wastelands, no wonder they had to come up to really go anywhere. With a cautionary word the Stork, Piper went back to watching as Stork carefully kept the Condor in the destroyer's blind spot. As seconds turned into minutes, it became apparent that the captain of the vessel had not noticed them; since the cruiser continued to plow ahead at a constant pace. Beyond the occasional whispered warning, the bridge of the Condor was absolutely silent, the atmosphere tense with worry about what might happen if they were spotted.

After nearly thirty minutes of silent travel, the warship began to slow down as the ends of a large rock ridge could be seen around the span of the vessel's engines. Realizing they might be spotted by sentries if they remained where they were, Stork gently eased the Condor down below the destroyer and skimmed the surface of the clouds hiding the Wastelands beneath them. As the destroyer continued onward into a cavern in the ridge, Stork brought the Condor to a stop to avoid running into the ridge itself and dropped the carrier down lower to give them extra cloud cover. Seizing the opportunity, Piper rushed out onto the deck in front of the bridge windows and scanned the ridge from end to end, coming back inside a few minutes later.

"It doesn't look like they have any lookouts posted; we should be safe as long as we're not seen from the docking cavern. Chances are there are going to be a lot of Talons in there, not that Talons are that big of a deal for us… Still, I think it would be best if we snuck in rather than charging in with our guns blazing." Piper reported as she looked over a map of the area to determine their exact location, "Especially considering how remote this place is… It would take us at least four hours to reach the nearest inhabited terra."

"By then the Cyclonians might have evacuated and there would go our best chance to free the prisoners." Aerrow said as he leaned over the map to see exactly where Piper was pointing on the map.

"I know; which is why we're going to need this stuff." Piper replied as she held up a set of rock-climbing gear, "Stork has stashed the other four sets in here somewhere."

"They're stored in the Wasteland survival kit next to the kit for Rendarian Exploding Spleen Syndrome." Stork answered with an odd tone that could possibly be described as morbid glee.

"Thanks Stork." Piper said as Aerrow, Starling, Junko and Finn all grabbed climbing gear. Once they had put on their gear, they checked the straps and tools to make sure everything was in good condition.

"Okay Stork, bring us up alongside the ridge so we can secure a transfer line between it and the Condor."

Ravess gazed out over the empty main cavern of the Cyclonian raiding base, relishing the beautiful acoustics the cavern provided to accompany her violin recital. The current piece she was working on was the same one she had first attempted when this base had been constructed and she was still having difficulty getting the timing of the crescendos and octaves during the fifty-seventh line right. Otherwise, she had managed to perfect her ability to play the piece to her liking. It would be appropriate if on this day, the last day they would be using this base, she could finally get the fifty-seventh line right. Alas, so far it seemed but a pipe dream.

"We're all packed up and ready to go, which is good 'cuz I can't stand that hooded freak any more." Snipe said as he tromped his way up the stairs leading to the balcony where Ravess stood. Rather than responding to her brother right away, Ravess instead set her violin down and gave Snipe a withering glare.

"You interrupted my recital to complain about Marrshal? Don't answer, it's obvious… Honestly though, I'm not sure way you dislike him so much, he doesn't bother me and I don't bother him. It's a mutually beneficial method of interaction Snipe, you might try it sometime."

"Yeah whatever." Snipe said as he thumped back down the staircase, "just telling you so you knew."

"Thank you so much Snipe." Ravess said as she brought her violin back into the correct position and started practicing again.

"You should be happy commander," Marrshal said to Snipe as he paced in front of the unconscious form of the Talon commander, "that combat sounded like a wonderful break from the norm of day to day operation. Nothing personal you understand, but this upcoming evacuation requires subtly and a willingness to fall back, two skills you are notoriously lacking in. At least you get a pleasant nap out of the deal and your sister got to prove how easy it is to impersonate you. Well, no matter, this upcoming battle with the Storm Hawks should prove most entertaining." Marrshal finished as his features inflated into those of Snipe. He quickly glanced at the clock in the hall; it would not be too long before the Storm Hawks commenced their attack and he needed to be in position before then.


	7. Chapter 7

**Darkening Skies: The Shadow-hand of Cyclonis**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 7**

Aerrow gasped as the ledge he had just grabbed onto gave way, crumbling into the Wasteland below. Thankful for the piton he had driven into the rock face a few seconds before, he swung over slightly and grabbed a more secure handhold. Only fifty feet to go before they reached the cave entrance.

"You alright up there Aerrow?" Piper's voice came floating up from below.

"Yeah, just a bad handhold, no real problem!" Aerrow shouted back down as he continued upward to the entrance.

Once the entire team had reached the edge of the cave, Aerrow held up a hand, informing everyone to hold up for a second.

"Okay everyone, try to be quiet for this next part, we want to avoid being spotted for as long as possible." Aerrow whispered to his team as they quietly drew out their weaponry. Carefully climbing over the edge to avoid disturbing any rocks, Aerrow found himself standing in a large grotto cavern mostly filled with the bulk of the Cyclonian destroyer they had followed here. No other caverns appeared to connect to this one, but any entrances could easily be obscured by the warship's mass. At least they would have some cover to move about in for a little while, provided the Cyclonians were not expecting guests. Safe for the moment, the Storm Hawks silently made their way across the hanger cavern, looking for signs of another cavern.

"Hey guys, over there!" Finn declared loudly, pointing toward a ladder off to the left as the other shushed him hastily. Not waiting to see if they had been heard, the Storm Hawks quickly made their way over to the ladder and raced up the steps to the main storage cavern which, to their surprise, was nearly empty save for a few Talons wandering about. A split second later, the nearest Talon noticed their arrival.

"Intruders!" the man cried as he ran towards a staircase off to one side of the cave, dropping his clipboard as he did so. Seconds later, dozens of Talons boiled out of connected caves into the main cavern. Within a few seconds, the Storm Hawks were embroiled in battle, Aerrow batting aside nearby Talons with ease while firing energy bolts at the Talons that hung back. Meanwhile, Piper practically danced among the Talons, smacking them around with her staff while using flips and somersaults to dodge any return fire the Talons directed at her. Like Aerrow and Piper, Starling was also in excellent form, her experience and martial arts allowing her to not only dispatch Talons within range but also get them to fire on each other when they attempted to hit her. While the three of them battled in and among the oncoming Talons, Junko and Finn stayed fairly stationary, Finn using his crossbow to pick off Talons at a range while Junko kept the Talons from getting too close to the marksman. As the last few Talons began to fall back, an arrow streaked in toward Aerrow, who managed to deflect it at the last moment with one of his blades. At the same time, a familiar violin song filled the cavern, announcing that Ravess had joined the battle. Looking up toward one of the balconies, Aerrow spotted her notching another arrow while her brother Snipe leapt down into the fray, always eager for action. With a roar of fury, Snipe charged towards Aerrow as Ravess took aim at Finn from her vantage point above. Predictably, Finn took aim as well and fired as Ravess did. As was typical, the firebolt arrow tore through Finn's arrow and continued onward towards its original target, forcing Finn to roll out of the way to avoid being hit. At that exact moment, Snipe swung his mace at Aerrow in a move likely intended to separate Aerrow's head from his body. As usual, Aerrow was too fast and easily dodged beneath the swing, then came up in a move intended to disarm his opponent. For once though, Snipe seemed to be on the ball and stepped backward with surprising ease, taking his weapon out of easy striking range. Undeterred by this surprising development, Aerrow shifted his momentum slightly to charge full force into his opponent, knocking Snipe backward and onto the floor. Taking advantage of the shift in initiative, Aerrow kicked the mace right out of Snipe's hand, sending the weapon skidding across the floor.

"Game's over Snipe," Aerrow said triumphantly as he leveled his blades at Snipe.

"Not quite…"

Meanwhile, Starling had managed to reach the balcony Ravess was using as a sniping position at the same time Piper used her staff to pole-vault herself onto the same balcony, her injured hand evidently not slowing the Storm Hawk down any. Rather than fight both of her opponents, Ravess instead raced back into the 'office complex,' slamming the heavy security door that had previously been hidden in the ceiling. Unfortunately for Ravess, Piper had opted to load a blazer crystal into her staff and the crystal-powered flame quickly began cutting through the door. In just another few minutes they would be through the door and Ravess would be trapped, provided there was not an escape tunnel.

Aerrow leapt back as Snipe slashed at him with a normal metal blade, easily getting out of range of the swing. With the threat of force no longer directly pointed at him, Snipe catapulted himself to his feet using only his hands and lunged at Aerrow. Quickly rolling out of the way, the Sky Knight leaped back to his feet, ready for Snipe to come around for a second charge. Instead he found that Snipe had continued onward, making a beeline for the destroyer's boarding ramp. Momentarily surprised by this unexpected change in tactic, Aerrow took a second to process this before he took off after Snipe. Finally catching the Talon commander, Aerrow tackled him with a flying leap, sending the blade Snipe had been wielding skittering across the floor and into the docking cavern a few yards ahead.

"Where are the crewmen Snipe?" Aerrow demanded as he scrambled to his feet

"Up on that balcony." Snipe said as he slowly crawled back to his feet and Aerrow nodded, sending Junko and Finn off to free the prisoners. With a sudden blur of motion, Snipe swung his arm at Aerrow in an attempt to backhand the Sky Knight. Aerrow ducked, thinking he had dodged out of the way, but a sudden pain in his arm told him he must not have been fast enough. Looking down, he was surprised to see a small dart sticking out of his arm. He looked up in shock at Snipe, who was merely standing there, watching. Then the entire world seemed to lose focus and Aerrow slipped into darkness as Snipe resumed his flight to the destroyer while the warship began warming up its engines.

"Commander?" Marrshal's voice came on over the radio located in the room where Ravess was hiding. Although she was startled to hear the voice of the creepy hooded commander, Ravess grabbed the receiver and answered.

"Yes?"

"Ah good, you are in the command rooms then?"

"Obviously."

"Yes, well, the Storm Hawks now have something else to distract them, given that their Sky Knight would seem to be requiring medical attention. The two who were pursuing you have yet to notice, but now is the time to make your escape." Marrshal said calmly over the radio.

"It's not as if there's a secret escape tunnel out of here or anything." Ravess replied caustically.

"Gathered as much, otherwise you would be on the destroyer already probably… Rather poor planning on your part, do you agree?" the spymaster countered in an almost conversational tone, "Not to worry, simply fire an arrow at the security door, the concussive wave from the explosion should knock those two off the balcony as well as provide you with an escape route. Hurry up now, your brother is already onboard, has been for quite some time."

"What, that idiot actually ran from the fight? That's a surprise."

"Focus commander, now is not the time to be contemplating your brother's change in tactics."

"Right."

"We're almost through Starling, get ready for…" Piper was whispering to Starling when suddenly Starling grabbed the younger woman and leapt off the balcony. An instant later and the door to Ravess's holdout position exploded outward and the pair hit the ground rolling, the blast having sent them tumbling through the air.

"What was…? Aerrow!" Piper cried out as she noticed Aerrow lying on the ground and sprinted over to him. As she reached Aerrow's prone form, Piper quickly pulled out the dart and tossed it to one side as she checked Aerrow's pulse and breathing. In another moment, Starling was beside her.

"What's wrong? Is he okay?" Starling asked in a concerned tone.

"I'm not sure; I can barely feel his pulse!" Piper said as she desperately tried to find any sign that Aerrow was breathing. Meanwhile, Ravess crept silently down the stairs from the balcony, forgotten by the Storm Hawks due to the urgency of Aerrow's condition.

"This is a perfect opportunity." Ravess said to herself quietly as she notched an arrow and took aim. However, as she drew her bowstring back to fire, a gloved hand shot forward and grabbed the arrow right out of her bow.

"Not now, our master has other plans for the Storm Hawks." Marrshal said in a harsh whisper as he handed Ravess's arrow back to her, "Now, get on the destroyer before they notice us. As if to emphasize his point, Ravess spotted Finn pointing at her and shouting to the other Storm Hawks before he too saw what had happened to Aerrow as rushed toward the group. With a frustrated sigh and a glare at Marrshal, Ravess took off toward the destroyer, escorted by Marrshal the entire time; as if he expected her to attempt another shot at the Storm Hawks. It would be interesting to see how Master Cyclonis reacted to the news of Marrshal saving the Storm Hawks. As she burst onto the bridge, Snipe turned to look at her but continued issuing orders; she also noticed that somewhere along the line Marrshal had disappeared.

"Are we ready to leave?" Ravess asked.

"Yeah." Snipe replied simply, a strong hint of irritation in his voice as the destroyer launched from the docking cavern.

Outside in the former storage cavern, the assembled Storm Hawks clapped their hands of their ears to deafen the bone rattling roar of the destroyer's launch. As the roar faded, the former prisoners, led by Junko, began streaming out of the prison wing into the main cavern. The rest of the Storm Hawks were more concerned about Aerrow than the prisoners at the moment.

"We need to get him to a medical facility!" Piper said adamantly as she picked up Aerrow's limp body.

"D… Did… we… win?" Aerrow asked suddenly, his voice drowsy and slurred.

"Aerrow!" Piper and Finn said happily as Starling stood by smiling.

"Why can't I move?" Aerrow asked in a confused tone, "Oh, right… Snipe…"

"Snipe did this to you?" Starling asked, very interested in this new development.

"He threw some kind of dart into me; I'm not sure what happened next, it's kind of fuzzy." Aerrow answered, the sleepiness in his voice gradually fading.

"Okay, we can figure this out later; right now we've got to get this people out of here and to a safe terra. Finn, you get Stork to bring the Condor in here. Junko, you grab Aerrow while Piper and I get this people ready to move." Starling said, suddenly all business again.

Within twenty minutes, they had evacuated everyone remaining in the facility to the Condor and were headed for one of the nearby terras. While the former prisoners stayed on the lower decks in the pontoons, the Storms Hawks had assembled on the bridge to discuss their findings.

"So first off, we should probably make a note of the changing tactics that the Cyclonians are beginning to employ, even Snipe has learned a few new tricks evidently. So we should probably expect the unexpected from now on whenever we battle the Cyclonians, especially the commanders." Piper said as she laid out a listed inventory of everything the Cyclonians had plundered during their raids.

"No kidding, I'd have never thought Snipe capable of duplicity to any degree." Aerrow said as he read through the list, tracing each line with his finger.

"That's not all, Piper and I talked to some of the crew members, particularly the captains. Evidently there is one crewman missing, a young man by the name of Shar, here's a neat little description. Notice anything familiar?" Starling said as she handed Aerrow a sketch of Shar.

"This looks exactly like the kid on the freighter who was killed!" Aerrow said in surprise.

"That was my reaction too." Piper said as she examined the sketch, "I'm not sure why he showed up, but it's possible he may be a spy for Cyclonia. Or a double agent, seeing as the Talons did terminate him."

"Whichever the case may be, there is one place we might be able to find some answers… in the relay station you were talking about." Aerrow said with determination, "As soon as we drop off these guys, we need to plan an attack on that relay."

I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed my story thus far, thank you for your feedback.

As a side note, the next chapter may or may not be uploaded on Saturday (10/ 20/ 07), since I am feeling rather under the weather. I apologize for mentioning stuff about my personal life online, but I feel that you deserve a reason as to why the update might be delayed. If it is, I will try to make up for it later next week.


	8. Chapter 8

**Darkening Skies: The Shadow-hand of Cyclonis**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 8**

"Okay everyone, here's the plan… First, Aerrow, Starling and I will land on this ledge here and use this cleft in the rock to get to the foundation of the relay center. Once there, we'll cut our way into the foundation and under the floor plates of the station. From what we know of the materials used in the construction of the base, this will probably take about thirty minutes. At that point the rest of you will attack from the outside, catching the Cyclonians in a pincer attack. This should allow us to capture the station with minimal risk." Piper explained as she pointed to various places on a map of the pinnacle of rock that the relay station sat upon.

"Good plan Piper." Aerrow said, "Any questions? If not, we'll launch our attack in eight hours time.

"Master Cyclonis, I must protest!" Ravess complained as Master Cyclonis gave her an icy stare. "I had the Storm Hawks right in my sights and this creep kept me from finishing them off once and for all." She continued, indicating Marrshal with an accusatory finger.

"And…?" Master Cyclonis asked, clearly uninterested in the entire affair.

"He let known enemies of the Cyclonian Empire escape certain death, not to mention that he ordered the evacuation of our raiding base, thus preventing us from stifling the Atmosian supply of crystals." Ravess answered, her outrage growing with every word. Did Master Cyclonis not grasp the magnitude of the loss they had suffered?

"While I agree that the loss of the raiding base may have been a bit extreme, I think the results more than make up for the inconvenience. Marrshal has done a flawless job of putting the Storm Hawks exactly where I want them, which is more than I can say for you and Snipe. Regardless, your knowledge of Marrshal's existence is an impediment to his continued success since you and Snipe both have a tendency to talk too much." Master Cyclonis commented, holding out an odd crystal that Ravess could not seem to focus on. It felt like her mind was swimming in gelatin almost. Suddenly, everything became perfectly clear again and Ravess looked at the hooded figure standing next to her.

"Who is he?" she asked, pointing at the figure.

"Just a simple courier." Marrshal said as he bowed and walked off, leaving both Ravess and Snipe to wonder why they felt like they knew the man as something more.

The raid on the relay station had gone off nearly without a flaw, and that one flaw had been an extra three Talons that had been at the station to rotate the crew manning the station. Nothing too difficult to handle really and the Storm Hawks were now set up to intercept important messages as they were transmitted across the Cyclonian Empire. Piper was currently manning the station, eagerly listening to details on troop movements and supply shipments in the nearby areas. The rest of the team was staying on the Condor, everyone but Stork and Aerrow preparing for a good night's rest after the raid. Of the two Storm Hawks still awake, Stork has on the bridge, his paranoia preventing him from anything resembling sleep; Aerrow had opted to take over Finn's shift as prison guard and was keeping a watch on the supply room where the Talons were being held.

Aerrow sighed and gently nudged Radarr with his foot to see if the 'mission specialist' was still awake. It did not come as much of a surprise that he was asleep. A sudden noise down the hall caught his attention, since the Talons were locked up it was probably just one of the other Storm Hawks wandering about, but it never hurt to check. Walking casually to where he heard the noise, Aerrow opened the door to find Piper digging through the equipment in her room.

"Oh, hi Aerrow, I hope I didn't wake you, I'm just looking for another message crystal to record the information we're getting." Piper said as she moved to a cabinet where she usually kept various chemicals.

"I was awake anyways, so no harm done." Aerrow said as he walked over to help Piper look, "It's kind of surprising that you can't find one, you like to keep everything organized for easy access."

"Well, that's generally true, but I also need to be able to send a message as well, so I really need two things."

"Who are you sending a…" Aerrow started to say as Piper suddenly sprayed him in the face with a fine mist of gas.

"Message delivered." Piper said with an evil grin as Aerrow's body slumped to the floor, completely unconscious.

Stork's ears perked up as he thought he heard a muffled thump coming from the direction of the quarters. However, the sound did not repeat and everything was once again quiet until a few minutes later when the bridge doors opened to let Piper in.

"Hi Stork, how are you holding up?" Piper asked pleasantly as she walked up next to Stork, "You could probably use a break."

"No thanks," Stork replied, his eye twitching slightly, "When our doom comes I'd like to be conscious for it so I can see if I was right about what would finally get me." At his comment, Piper glanced around the bridge then gave Stork an odd look.

"What? I'm allowed to have hobbies." Stork said in response to the look Piper gave him. Instead of answering, Piper simply sprayed Stork in the face, smiling as he dropped to the floor. Having taken out the only conscious people on the ship who might oppose her, Piper went next to Starling's room, quickly spraying Starling in the face as the Sky Knight started to get up. She next went to Finn's room and finally Junko's room, spraying each in turn.

Having rendered the Storm Hawks unconscious, Piper walked to the makeshift brig and opened it, freeing the Talons inside.

"Hello Talons."

"What the?"

"Come on, I need the six of you to stand guard over the Storm Hawks to make sure they don't cause any trouble." Piper said as she stood aside to let the Talons out into the hall.

Several hours later, Piper brought the Condor in for a landing on one of the docking platforms that stuck out from the main tower of Cyclonia. Waiting in the entry portal was a hooded figure surrounded by several dozen Talons and escorted by the Dark Ace. As the Condor finally touched down, a second hooded figure emerged from the shadows of the recessed bay and walked up to stand just to the left of the first hooded figure, on the opposite side from the Dark Ace.

"Truly this must be a momentous occasion if both the Dark Ace and Marrshal are here to watch my plan come to fruition." Master Cyclonis said with a touch of mock irony in her voice. The Dark Ace shrugged, taking the comment in stride as he watched the Condor's boarding ramp descend. Marrshal for his part simply stood by stoically, waiting to see exactly what would happen, although he had a fairly good idea. A minute later and his suspicions were confirmed as Piper walked down the ramp with six Talons in tow.

"Master Cyclonis!" Piper said happily as she hugged her friend, "How's my best friend?"

"I am doing fine Piper; please do not hug me though." Master Cyclonis said in a calm, if slightly happy, tone, "Welcome to Cyclonia, I am glad you could finally join us Piper."

"Anything for my best friend forever!"


	9. The Cyclonia Ascendant

**Darkening Skies: The Cyclonia Ascendant**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 1**

Aerrow groaned as consciousness returned to him, although he immediately knew something was wrong since he couldn't move his arms or legs. He opened his eyes slowly to find himself in a dimly lit metal room, securely restrained to an upright metal table by five metal bands; one band across each limb and one across his waist. Struggling slightly to test his bonds, he found he had little to no room for movement and the bands were not locked on this side of the table; meaning that even if he could move, he could not pick the locks in any case. He tried to think about how he might have gotten here, but it was a little hazy. Why did that always seem to be a side effect of being knocked out? What had probably happened was when he had gone to check on Piper the Talons had gotten free and taken over the Condor. If true, the Talons had gotten more competent in recent history.

"Hello Sky Knight." A sinister voice said from behind him, causing Aerrow to instinctively glance over his shoulder. A futile gesture, he could not see past the surface he was secured to. A few seconds later and Master Cyclonis glided in view around the edge of the table, an evil grin on her face as she checked to make sure the restraints were secure. "So good of you to join us Sky Knight, I trust your accommodations are not to your liking?"

"Master Cyclonis, you won't be able to hold us here, we'll escape before you know it." Aerrow said in a determined tone, "Whatever you plan on doing to us won't work!"

"Ooo, I never realized that you are so cute when you are brimming with determination and righteous anger; doubly so considering your rebellious streak if what I have heard is true. Rejecting the judgment the Sky Knight Council to reclaim the legacy of the Storm Hawks as your own, standing up to the authority Cyclonia represents." Master Cyclonis said in a coy tone.

"You only represent oppression."

"There is that righteousness again, if only you would realize that Cyclonia is only repressive because Atmosia is so determined to destroy us. If only we controlled the Atmos, you could see how lenient I can be. And as soon as we claim Atmosia's main crystal mine as our own, this ill-advised insurrection will be over. Then maybe, you and I can get to know each other better." The Cyclonian leader continued in a tone that sent a shiver down Aerrow's spine.

"No chance of that."

"You say that now, but we will see. Regardless, I imagine that you want to be with the rest of your team. The Dark Ace and a few Talons will be down to escort you to the cells holding the rest of your team in a few minutes. I will see you later." Master Cyclonis said as she disappeared behind the table again. A few minutes later, Aerrow heard the sound of footsteps echoing in the hallway and room and the Dark Ace entered the cell he was being held in.

"Hello Aerrow, enjoying your stay?"

"Your master already said something to that effect Dark Ace." Aerrow said in a snide tone, hoping against hope to get the Dark Ace to make a mistake. The smug grin on the Dark Ace's face told him instantly though that such a tactic would not work, even if he could come up with some better insults. A few heavy clicks sounded behind Aerrow and, as he dropped to the floor, the Dark Ace pointed his activated energy sword right underneath Aerrow's chin.

"Let's not make any foolish moves now, shall we? I would hate to have to explain to Master Cyclonis why we had to send you to the medical center. Now, let's go see your friends." The Dark Ace said in an ominous tone as he forced Aerrow out of the cell at sword point. Making their way quickly through the corridors of the Cyclonian prison, they finally passed through a security hub surrounded by several shorter hallways arranged around the hub in a radial configuration. Aerrow was led down one of the halls to the left where four cells lined the hall. In the first room they passed, Junko and Finn sat rather despondently, while the room across the hall from them held Piper and Starling. The next room down the hallway held Stork and Radarr, while the final cell was empty. The empty cell was clearly intended for him.

"Here's your new home Aerrow, enjoy." The Dark Ace said as the Talons roughly shoved Aerrow inside. Having thrown Aerrow in his cell, the Dark Ace and the Talons walked off down the hall, disappearing down the main hall leading to the security hub after holding a short conference with the Talons stationed at the hub. Even after they had left, the Storm Hawks sat in silence, unsure of what to do beyond escaping.

"I wonder why they didn't simply throw us in the mines or dispose of us immediately." Finn asked, finally breaking the silence.

"I think it's obvious, they kept us alive so they could perform horrible, disfiguring experiments on us, starting with him." Stork said in a gleefully morbid tone as he pointed at Radarr. Almost immediately, Radarr started screaming and bouncing off the walls of his cell.

"Calm down Radarr, no one is getting experimented on," Aerrow said, trying to soothe the fuzz ball's hyperactive panic, "We just need to figure out a way to escape and we'll be out of here in no time. Stork, do you have anything that might help us out here?"

"I guess this might help." Stork said as he held up a lock pick.

"Alright, quick, hide it again until the Talons are rotating the crew manning the hub; that will give us some time to break out where we won't be observed." Aerrow said quickly and quietly, not wanting the Talons to overhear. Hopefully in just a few hours, the guard would change and then the time would be right to escape.

Deep inside the massive tower of rock that composed the foundation of the main citadel of Cyclonia was a chamber, hidden far below the lowest tunnels of the citadel above, nearly at the same elevation as the 'ground' of the Wastelands. The chamber could only be accessed through a complex system of hidden passages that ran through the citadel above, only one of the tunnels actually winding its way down to the chamber. This chamber, hidden from everyone but Master Cyclonis and the Dark Ace, was Marrshal's command center and the heart of his covert operations network. From this location, he monitored the information provided by his agents and gave commands to the Talons stationed in his main base on Terra Nocturne.

The chamber was a near perfect circular dome, disrupted only by the archway of a door and the layer after layer of recessed bookcases on tracks that ringed the bottom of the dome. Closer to the center of the dome was a crescent-shaped desk with several radios and a workspace set into its surface. Only one of the radios was actually intended to be used for two way communications, the rest were simply hooked up to devices that recorded incoming messages in a manner similar to a seismograph combined with a printing press. The text was not always clearly written, but it was easy enough to read once one got the hang of it. Every few weeks the reports from each radio were compiled into a book and filed away in chronological order on one of the bookcases. Around this central desk were several mechanical arms that Marrshal used when constructing his little mechanical creations to hold various pieces. A few of these arms held something far more valuable than tiny mechanical parts; they instead held fragments of a light violet crystal. These were fragments of the famed Oracle Stone and though they rarely offered any insights into the future, they continued to serve as eyes for Marrshal, allowing him to see any location on Atmos in the present time. Elsewhere in the open space between the desk complex and the bookcases sat a variety of devices, each with a different purpose that assisted Marrshal in his duties as spymaster of Cyclonia.

Marrshal currently sat in residence, working on solving the last mysteries of the log book and watch. From what he had figured out, the watch was not really used to tell the time of day, the numbers hardly lined up with any sense of linear time. However, when examined with the log book as a reference, it became apparent how the watch functioned. The watch constantly 'kept time' when in actuality it was informing the captain of what heading would be safe to take at what time. One then followed that heading until the watch read the same as the next heading down on the list at which point the captain would adjust his heading to match and so on until the freighter reached the mine itself. An ingenious system if nothing else, one that would be impossible to decode without both the watch and the log book. While the log book could be duplicated, the watch could not, seeing as it relied on a timepulse crystal to continue functioning. Well, one set was all they needed, time to tell Master Cyclonis that the mine was hers for the taking.

"Good work Marrshal, you have just handed me the main mines of Atmosia." Master Cyclonis said with a pleased expression on her face, "Dark Ace?"

"Yes Master Cyclonis?" the Dark Ace said as he stood by silently.

"Take Ravess and Snipe with you and attack the main mine of Atmosia, claim it in the name of Cyclonia and smash any Sky Knights that get in the way."

"With pleasure Master." The Dark Ace said as both he and Marrshal left the chamber to prepare for the attack on the Atmosian mines.

A sudden bustle of movement alerted Aerrow that the time for their escape had come; this feeling confirmed a minute later as the next shift of Talon guards entered the security hub. Motioning to Stork, he waited for a tense moment when it seemed Stork was not going to do anything, as if he were frozen from fright or paranoia. However, his concerns were laid to rest quickly as the door to Stork's cell quietly swung open.

"Okay, now go and free Piper and Starling so they can use… wait, Starling has a lock pick, why hasn't she broken out yet?" Aerrow asked in sudden confusion.

"GUARDS!" Piper suddenly called down the hallway, bringing several Talons rushing into the hall. Stork did not stand a chance against them and rather quickly scampered back to his cell, dropping the lock pick as he did so. The Talons were quick to notice and secured Stork's cell again as they picked up the lock pick. A minute later and two guards came back with Radarr in tow, tossing him into the same cell as before. They then proceeded back up the hallway and Aerrow heard some muted discussion and then silence once more.

About fifteen minutes later it became apparent who they had been talking to as Master Cyclonis herself walked into the hallway.

"Nice try Storm Hawks, but no chance this time." Master Cyclonis said as she glanced at each Storm Hawk in turn.

"Hi Master Cyclonis!" Piper said as she waved happily at her friend.

"Hi Piper." Cyclonis returned as she motioned to a pair of Talons, "Release her and guide her up to the dining hall, us BFF's got a lot to catch up on. Also, make sure Starling is still unconscious, we do not need a Sky Knight loose in the citadel."

"I'll see you in a few minutes then!" Piper said as she walked off to the dining hall, guided by the two Talons that had released her.

"What did you do to Piper?" Aerrow asked angrily, wishing he could get out of his cell.

"There's that righteous anger that makes you so cute again!" Master Cyclonis said in a flirtatious manner, "You need to stop that or I might just decide to let you go so I can have dinner with you too. Alas, I am not that foolish, but I will tell you what I did to Piper for the sake of posterity. I implanted in her a new kind of crystal I discovered, a psionic crystal, that allows her to be my friend; something which she regrets not being able to do because her loyalty to Atmosia demands that she oppose me. Thus, by allowing her to indulge the darker aspects of her personality, she can now be truly happy, although she deeply wishes that the rest of you would join her on the same side. She will not help you escape though. Now, if you don't mind, I have dinner with a friend to keep." With her explanation complete, Master Cyclonis turned and left, leaving the Storm Hawks in uncomfortable silence.

"Dude, she's totally got a crush on you Aerrow." Finn said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, that's a real plus in our favor." Aerrow shot back, an odd mix of emotions sitting in the pit of his stomach. If Master Cyclonis were not so evil, then maybe there might have been some attraction; she was intelligent and clever, the only things she lacked were kindness and the ability to treat others as equals. Although maybe not so much, considering what Piper had told him about "Lark." Aerrow shook his head, he had more important problems to deal with, namely how they were going to escape with Piper and free her from Master Cyclonis's control, not to mention how they were going to stop the Cyclonian attack on the main crystal mines.

"I got to say Master Cyclonis; you sure know how to make a friend feel at home." Piper said in amazement as she looked around at the expansive dining room and all the many types of crystals that provided ornamentation, decoration and lighting. Lit by firebolt crystals, the room showcased water produced by drizzle crystals that was guided through the air by levitation crystals and illuminated by various colored crystal lights before being evaporated by furnace crystals. Overhead, set against a dark ceiling, tiny solaris crystal twinkled like stars in the night sky while lower down on the walls, thunder crystals hidden behind the ring of clouds produced by the drizzle crystals imitated a silent thunder storm, the electrical discharges safely held back by shielding crystals that kept the bolts from striking those occupying the room.

"Thank you, I'm glad you enjoy it, feel free to explore the room at your leisure." Master Cyclonis replied amicably as she gazed around the dome-shaped room. It was an incredibly opulent display of the power of Cyclonia, one that Master Cyclonis would not normally indulged in, but it was necessary if the plan she and Marrshal had were to succeed. At first, that had been all the room was, a means to an end; however, she had grown to like the room, arranging for the weather to change each day to reflect weather elsewhere in Cyclonia. The cultural conquest plan that Marrshal had laid out clearly had more benefits than simply dominating Atmos once more, although she was still weary about the next phase of the plan, which involved the creation of a middle class, to foster economic and cultural growth as well as motivate the slaves to work harder with the promise of being promoted to become one of the 'Cyclonian elite;' even though they would never have any part in government and Cyclonia would still remain a military based monarchy. But, the plan had taken nearly a year to come up with just the first stage and a total of two years of planning had gone into the development of this next stage. Even now, Marrshal's operatives continued research to determine if such a move would benefit Cyclonia and they would continue to do so right up until the day when a final decision was to be reached. The monthly status reports they turned out were always of great interest to her and she read each one with a critical eye to make sure she missed nothing. Based on Piper's reaction though, the dining hall definitely served its original intended purpose; maybe it was time to establish some more refined cultural trends in Cyclonia.

"Your meals are ready Master Cyclonis." A Talon who had been trained as a chef said as a cart of food quietly glided in on floater crystals.

"Very well, we should eat before the food gets cold Piper." Master Cyclonis said, dismissing the chef and waiters after they had set the food out.

"Okay, I'll be there in just a second." Piper said as she examined one of the fountains along the wall; then straightened up and walked back over to the table, taking her seat diagonally to Cyclonis, who sat at the head of the long formal dining table, "This is really not what I expected to see, what with Cyclonia being famous for its military, no offense intended."

"None taken, the only thing you have to watch out for is letting Snipe know there actually is some culture here." Master Cyclonis said as both friends laughed at the joke made at Snipe's expense. After the laughter finally subsided, the two chatted back and forth, their topics of conversation running the gamut from crystal sciences to the latest in music choices. After some time though, Master Cyclonis suddenly noticed Piper seemed hesitant, like she was not really sure of what she was doing. With a sad sigh, Master Cyclonis called a couple Talons to escort Piper back to her cell. This hesitancy was an indication that Piper was waking up, that the psionic crystal was not potent enough to maintain her current state of mind; Piper had to technically be asleep for the crystal to take effect. As Piper was escorted out of the room, Master Cyclonis looked down at the half-finished meals and sighed; now that she had a friend, it was hard to lose that friend for any reason. However, she vowed that she would fix the problem with the psionic crystals and then she would have all the friends she ever needed.

"Back in the cell you go!" the Talons who escorted Piper back said as they roughly tossed her into her original cell. Quickly scrambling to her feet, Piper tried to reach the Talons before they closed the door, but was not nearly fast enough as the door slammed shut while she was still five feet away. Seeing that she was not going to escape that easily, Piper sat down on the floor and began contemplating her next move when suddenly a voice behind her spoke up.

"That was rather treacherous of you Piper to hand us over to the Cyclonians like that." Starling said as she picked up Piper.

"Calm down Starling, Piper isn't herself; Master Cyclonis did something to her." Aerrow explained in a low-key voice from the next cell over as Starling set Piper down and brushed her off.

"I know I was just testing to see if this is the Piper we know or that other 'Piper.' Right now, it would seem that we have the real Piper." Starling said in a friendly voice, although there was still a hint of suspicion in her tone, "So I guess, at least for the time being, we do not have a traitor in our midst."


	10. Chapter 10

**Darkening Skies: The Cyclonia Ascendant**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 2**

The Dark Ace calmly stood on the bridge of the lead destroyer in the Cyclonian fleet that had been dispatched to attack the main mines of Atmosia, Marrshal standing in front of him, closer to the helmsman. Although Master Cyclonis had not officially told Marrshal to come on this mission, the spymaster had a great deal of autonomy, similar to the Dark Ace himself, so it was only natural that he would come along to see the final culmination of his efforts over the past few months. As if sensing the Dark Ace's watchful eye, Marrshal's hood moved in a fashion suggesting he was looking up and the spymaster turned around. As was a constant every time he saw the commander, the man's face was hidden in deep shadow.

"Quite the impressive fleet, is it not commander?" Marrshal asked in an eerily hollow voice.

"Five destroyers and myself against a single target… There's hardly a need to bring the Talons along." the Dark Ace said as he idly examined the perfect firebolt crystal he had to power his sword, "But they do provide good cover should the Atmosians field an actual sky armada. Which I suppose is a fairly good possibility considering our target."

"Not to mention the fact that it would take a unique brand of idiocy to not notice this fleet, there is little chance that the Atmosians will not gather a massive counterforce." Marrshal added, "Victory is likely assured though since the Sky Knight Council will initially rely on the defenses around the mine to prevent anyone from approaching while they can come along and batter the fleet repeatedly until retreat is necessary."

"Too bad you already found a way past their defenses then?" the Dark Ace asked as the fleet entered the airspace near the massive cloud bank concealing the mine, "Well, spymaster, time for your part in this play."

"With pleasure." Marrshal said as he brought out the log book and watch, "First, set your bearing to 68-mark-45 to take the vessel to the first entry point."

Aerrow sat on the bunk bed in his cell, trying to think of a way out of the predicament they were in. There was no way to know for certain if Piper could be trusted, and even if she could be, when she turned back to Master Cyclonis's side she would tell Master Cyclonis everything they planned. Then again… He leapt off the top bunk he had been sitting on and walked over to the door.

"Okay everyone, I have a plan." Aerrow announced, bringing everyone to their cell doors.

"Aerrow, don't tell me, what if I betray us all to Master Cyclonis?" Piper said despairingly.

"Don't worry Piper, I'm certain that you will not betray us, you're stronger than that." Aerrow said soothingly, feeling guilty about being dishonest with Piper. He was sure she would never knowingly betray them, but whatever Master Cyclonis had done to Piper seemed to subvert any determination or loyalty that one might have. "Now then, here's the plan; first, we'll wait for Piper to return, that way we know she's on our side. Then, when the guard changes we'll use that opportunity to have Radarr pick the locks on our cell doors and create a racket. When the guards come to investigate, we smash them with the doors and grab their weapons and uniforms. Then, we grab our weapons and make our way to the Condor and escape. Sound feasible?"

"Yeah, sounds promising." Starling replied as the others, minus Stork, added various statements of agreement. A couple hours later, Piper was calling for the guards.

Zephyr had long been the commander of the Mine Defense Force, charged with ensuring the safety of the main mines the Atmosians required to provide them with the crystals needed to fight the Cyclonians. He had done his job well considering the Cyclonians had never launched an attack on the mines, since any attack was fated to run into the floating minefields that rotated about the terra in the dense clouds created by massive drizzle crystals. Needless to say, he was surprised when five Cyclonian destroyers broke through the clouds into the clear dome of air surrounding the mining terra. However, he was not unprepared.

"All guns open fire!" he called out to the gunners near him, "Send word down the line, we're under attack!"

"Well Marrshal, do you have some way of countering this development?" the Dark Ace asked as the destroyer shook under the heavy bombardment.

"One man alone cannot do everything commander; however, a distraction has been prepared, make good use of it." Marrshal said as he watched the Talon squadrons onboard the destroyers launch. A second later and a massive fireball erupted in the middle of the terra, a sure sign of a fuel crystal depot being destroyed. The Dark Ace smiled to himself, maybe not the most effective distraction in the world, but the fire from below had stopped as the gunners watched in shock as fire spread across the shielded compound.

"That could make starting crystal production again difficult…" the Dark Ace commented as he watched Ravess and Snipe fly by, "I better get going if I want to get any excitement out of this."

"Of course, no one is stopping you." Marrshal said as he examined the patterns of renewed fire that were lancing up from the terra below. There was significantly less fire than before he observed as the Dark Ace raced off to the launch bay. A few minutes later and the Dark Ace had joined the fray outside, expertly shooting down the skimmers that the Atmosians had managed to scramble while the Talons destroyed the unshielded defense cannons and rained fire down on those that were shielded. The battle was obviously over, the cannons no longer targeting the destroyers as each destroyer rained fire down on the shielded defense emplacements to compound the damage being done by the Talons. In another hour or so at most, the terra would be under their control and then they would have to worry more about the Atmosian counter-attack. Not having much else to do, Marrshal removed a fragment of the Oracle Stone from a pocket in his robe and decided to check up on things in Cyclonia. What he saw was very interesting, very interesting indeed…

After Piper had been led away by the Talons, Aerrow called another meeting of the imprisoned Storm Hawks.

"Okay, now that Piper is on her way to spill the details of our plan to Master Cyclonis, time to discuss the real plan. Master Cyclonis will probably change the guard while Piper is not here, since Piper needed to be here for the original plan. Right now though, Stork, do you have a second lock pick? If so, start picking the lock on your cell quietly."

"Yes…" Stork said as he presented another lock pick.

"Where do you keep all these things?" Finn asked with a disgusted expression on his face.

"Well, this one was hidden in my belt as part of the buckle." Stork answered as he got to work unlocking his cell. A few minutes later, Stork quietly opened his cell door again and got to work unlocking the other cells.

"Okay, now we create a racket and get the guards' weapons." Aerrow explained as everyone closed their cell doors and then started rattling the doors or banging cups against the bars. A few seconds later and three Talons raced into the cell area, weapons at the ready. They split up, one checking each cell except Stork's. A second later and all three were unconscious due to being smashed up against the wall by the cell doors.

"Okay, first part of the plan is complete. Now then, while Starling and I get our weapons, the rest of you free the prisoners and start a big riot. Afterwards, meet near the temporary holding cells."

"Right."

As Aerrow and Starling left the contraband vault with their team's weapons, Aerrow quickly ducked into the nearby medical center, hoping to find something to help with another task they had to complete.

"Just what are you doing?" Starling asked from the door of the medical center as Aerrow held up a restraining jacket.

"You go on ahead with the others," Aerrow said as he handed over all the weapons he was carrying except his own to Starling, "I have to go and rescue Piper first. We'll all meet up outside Hanger 14 for the next phase of the plan." Seeing that he would not be deterred, Starling sighed and nodded, knowing this was part of the whole hero thing. With a final wish of good luck, Starling ran back to the rest of the Storm Hawks.

"Well Piper, I thank you for this information, we need to make sure that your friends do not escape. After all, I intend to enlighten them as well, and it would be a shame if they rejected it out of hand due to fear of the unknown." Master Cyclonis said as she and Piper sat talking in an observatory high up the main citadel of Cyclonia.

"I know; it's kind of embarrassing that they are so scared of the unknown." Piper in agreement as two Talons walked up.

"Speak." Master Cyclonis said as she looked at the Talons with an irritated glare on her face.

"There's a prison break in progress, several of the prisoners have gotten loose and have broken out of the prison block."

"Interesting, I thought they were going to wait until you were back. Nevermind, clearly they decided to feed us a little disinformation. I'll handle this; you just stay here where it's safe. Talons seal off the hangers, especially the one where the Condor is being held." Master Cyclonis said to Piper and the Talons as she practically flew out of the room in a rage. Just outside the doors however, she came up short as Marrshal appeared in a bright flash of light.

"Apologies my lady, for not being here to stop the Storm Hawks from executing the break out."

"There will be time enough for that later, find the person who is bringing their weapons to the Storm Hawks and eliminate them. I'll clean up the rest of the mob." Master Cyclonis said as her eyes flashed red and a smoke-like aura surrounded her, the Chaos Crystal given to her by Magus Psi glowing black in response to her rage.

"As you wish my lady." Marrshal said as he vanished back into the shadows. Not wasting anymore time, Master Cyclonis rocketed down the hall.

Starling raced through the prison halls, trying to reach the rendezvous spot where she would meet up with the other Storm Hawks. Without these weapons, the prison riot would be stopped long before it could reach the hanger levels where it needed to go. Provided it had not been stopped already by the Cyclonians… but the other Storm Hawks would probably know enough to hide should it look like the riot was going badly.

"Greeting my dear, you look a little lost." A voice said from behind her, causing Starling to whirl around, only to be confronted with someone who should be dead: Shar.

"Pretty lively for a dead man." Starling said as she pulled out her nunchucks, the hanzo crystals in the handles glowing brilliantly in the dim hall.

"At least the other Sky Knight can rest easy knowing that he did not fail anyone." Shar said as he pulled out a wicked looking dagger with an odd violet energy nimbus surrounding it, "That should put his mind at ease."

"Normally I'd feel guilty, attacking a civilian, but I doubt that's what you really are." Starling said as she attacked first, swinging back and forth to throw energy bolts at her opponent. Showing exceptional skill with a blade, Shar intercepted the bolts aimed directly at him, the bolts vanishing upon contact with his blade. Starling immediately fell back, this man was more skilled than a normal Talon and the weapons she was carrying would hinder her movement. Better to lay the weapons down and end this here and now. Dropping the other Storm Hawk's weapons, Starling took up a defensive stance, daring her opponent to try the first strike.

"Interesting tactic, going on the defensive to lure your opponent into a disadvantageous position. However, time is a limiting factor for you and the other Storm Hawks, not for us. If you wish to proceed, you will have to take the offensive position and end this fight quickly. Just thought you should know." Shar said, taking up a passive stance intended more to intercept a fleeing opponent than guard against attack; although considering the distance between the two, he would have plenty of time to shift to a more defensive stance. A ranged attack might work though, Starling thought as she shifted the position of her nunchucks so one end was pointing at Shar. Just as he noticed what she had done, Starling fired, spinning Shar backward as the bolt caught him in the shoulder. However, rather than land flat on the ground, Shar shot a hand out to connect with the floor, using his angular momentum to spin back onto his feet. How unfortunate that he seemed to be fairly quick on his feet.

"Clever, but the clock is still running out for your friends."

"Not so." Starling replied as she leapt up into the air and slammed into the ground, sending out a shockwave of energy that blasted Shar into a wall. As the man slumped into unconsciousness, Starling grabbed the weapons she had dropped and hurried onward. Just as she rounded a corner however, she found herself once again confronted by Shar.

"This could get annoying…" Starling muttered under her breath as she readied her nunchucks and set the other weapons down.

"Sorry, do not mean to grate, but our leader has ordered your termination so persistence should be expected." Shar said.

"Don't you use any personal names or ever refer to yourself?" Starling said as she launched several energy bolts at her opponent, trying to get in range for a takedown.

"Unneeded and a hazard in this profession under many circumstances. Not to mention how this manner of speech infuriates others and can cause them to make mistakes when attempting to investigate since there is little trace to follow. Since under most circumstances it is unnecessary to refer to oneself, most do not notice this peculiarity." Shar said as he deflected each bolt in turn. Suddenly Starling smashed him in the chest with a reverse round kick, sending him flying backward. However, before he really went anywhere, Starling hooked her nunchucks around his neck and threw him into the far wall of the hallway. Shar slammed head first into the wall with a resounding crack and slid down to the floor.

"Now stay there this time." Starling said as she grabbed the weapons and ran down the hall. Thankfully there was only a short distance left to go before she reached the rendezvous point. Up ahead was the intersection where the management section hallway intersected with the prison entry hallway. As she turned to race up to the entrance, she again found Shar waiting for her.

"This is getting ridiculous, this time stay down!" Starling yelled as she smashed him in the chest with her nunchucks. As Shar hit the floor, Starling drove down with the ends of her weapons, stabbing him in the stomach and firing off one burst of energy to zap him into unconsciousness. Standing there for a second, she noticed his breathing was shallow, generally indicative of unconsciousness. Although he could be faking it, Starling could not afford to stand around, not with the fate of their plan riding on her getting the Storm Hawks their weapons.

Continuing down the hallway, she reached the ramp that led up to the main entrance into the prison levels. Up near the top of the ramp the rest of the Storm Hawks were mixed in among the freed prisoners, assisting in the fight against the Talons.

"Finn, catch!" Starling yelled, tossing the blond Storm Hawk his crossbow. As he caught his crossbow, Finn handed off his Cyclonian weapon staff to another prisoner and yelled over to Junko. Junko turned, looking toward Starling as Finn pointed to her and caught his knuckle busters, giving Starling a thumbs up as he punched the floor, sending several Talons flying. Stork received Piper's staff to replace his Cyclonian staff and Radarr did not need a weapon, Starling tossed the staff she and Aerrow had taken along with them to a random prisoner. She was just about to leap into the fray when suddenly a cable wrapped around her ankles, dropping her to the floor as she was pulled backwards. Looking back, she saw Shar running toward her with his dagger ready for a downward stab. Hoping to trip him up, Starling whipped her feet around, trying to wrap the cable around her opponent's feet. However, Shar nimbly danced out of the loops that rolled down the cable and dove in for a fatal strike. Starling rolled to one side and smacked Shar into the floor, climbing to her feet as he rolled away from her and got to his feet as well.

"Tired of dealing with us?" Shar said as he pointed his dagger at Starling, slowly circling to block off her route to the prison entrance and the rest of the Storm Hawks. Rather than answer, Starling leap into the air and slammed back down, generating an energy shockwave. Shar, predicting as much, leaped over the small cascade of energy, only to be hit by several energy bolts as Starling targeted him while he was unable to dodge. As Shar hit the floor, Starling flipped into the air, intending to use the downward momentum to strengthen her blow and hopefully knock Shar unconscious. However, Shar rolled out of the way just in time and aimed his blade straight for Starling's side. Starling quickly brought one handle of her nunchucks up to block… only to be forced to quickly leap up and back as the blade simply cut through her nunchucks as if they were air. She looked at the remaining handle in shock, the grip had been cut clean through, no scorch marks or striations as would be expected; undoubtedly the other portion of her nunchucks looked similar and she spotted the other handle and connecting cord lying a couple feet away.

"What kind of crystal do you have in that thing?" Starling asked, hoping to stall him while she thought of a new strategy. Unfortunately, Shar seemed eager to press his advantage and slashed at her with a horizontal cut. After seeing what his blade could do, she was none too eager to get near him and flipped backwards under his slash, hoping her kick upward would knock his blade away from him. He was a little too quick however, her kick missed and she landed in a crouching position, expecting him to press his attack. She was not entirely disappointed as Shar pulled out several daggers and threw them at her. Quickly rolling to one side as the daggers flew by; Starling acted on instinct and brought her roll up short. It proved to be a prudent move as an instant later; a dart rebounded off the metal floor next to her in the direction she had been rolling.

"You know Shar; you don't have to do this, you can still do the right thing." Starling said as she edged closer to the other piece of her nunchucks.

"Please just stop right there, there is almost nothing more tiresome than the whole 'you can still be a hero' speech, never wanted to be a hero and never will be." Shar replied in a tone that was both condescending and exasperated.

"Good." Starling said as she dove for the other piece of her nunchucks and then raced up the ramp leading to the prison entrance. Upon reaching the top of the ramp, she smacked the controls off to one side, slamming the heavy security door shut.

"What was that all about Starling?" Stork asked as he looked at her with a startled expression.

"You really don't want to know, but we should really get a move on here." Starling said as she looked around at the prisoners fighting with the Talons a little ways down the hall, "I'm going to guess things aren't going well out here?"

"Not really, Master Cyclonis arrived a little bit ago and is doing a pretty good job of delivering us to our doom. I estimate another couple minutes before we're all dead." Stork said with a nervous twitch.

"Great, without my nunchucks that's going to be a difficult fight at best… still, we don't have much choice. Come on Stork."

"Before we go to our inevitable doom, might I ask where Aerrow is?"

"On a personal mission." Starling said as she looked around to make sure Shar had not somehow snuck up on them again. After seeing that he was nowhere nearby, Starling grabbed Stork by the arm and the two ran toward the riot mob.

Meanwhile, Marrshal stood on the other side of the prison door glaring at it in frustration, especially the broken controls on his side of the door. Fighting off a wave of dizziness caused by his earlier impact with the wall, even though he had reinforced his skull with a second cranial bone, head impacts still hurt. As the dizziness passed though, he considered his options. There were few secret tunnels that led out of the prison and he did not have his teleportation crystal with him currently. While he could make the lengthy backtrack to the office that had an external connection; that would take a few minutes to get to any useful position. So perhaps something less subtle was called for. Focusing on the task at hand, he recalled the information on Sky Knight techniques he had stolen. An odd coruscating aura surrounded him and he stabbed his blade forward into the air. As he did so, the blade disappeared and space seemed to distort, as if he had punched the very fabric of space-time. Quickly withdrawing the dagger and stepping back a good distance; he watched in amazement as a small black sphere appeared and suddenly grew in size to about the size of a basketball and began drawing everything in, similar to a black hole. After a few seconds, the gate to oblivion collapsed with a loud bang and Marrshal grinned; this would work quite nicely against the door. Repeating the process, he stabbed the door itself this time and watched as the metal in a five foot radius began to distort a moment later.

Aerrow snuck quietly through the halls, his Talon uniform combined with the prison break ensuring that he was ignored by most of the guards in the halls. The few that actually did question his presence found themselves on a trip to dreamland. At last he found his target, sitting in an observatory far up the main Cyclonian tower. Knowing that Piper would not be fooled by his disguise, some cunning would be required. Quietly entering the observatory, Aerrow approached Piper from behind, hiding the restraint jacket behind his back as he neared Piper. Suddenly, one of his boots scuffed the floor, causing Piper to whirl around as she stood up.

"Hello Aerrow, nice uniform. Unfortunately, I'm guessing it is not a sign of your actual allegiances. I should have known that you would try to find me and free me from my best friend's grip, but I'll have you know I enjoy being friends with Master Cyclonis. It doesn't matter that a psionic crystal is required to free me from the bonds of Atmosia." Piper said as she dropped into a Sky Fu battle stance. Aerrow readied himself, but did not draw his blade; he did not want to hurt Piper any more than was absolutely necessary.

"Are you even listening to what you're saying?" Aerrow said as he slowly circled Piper, trying to get into an advantageous position or at least force her to turn and catch her off balance. Piper slowly rotated with him however and Aerrow realized this fight would be more difficult than he had originally anticipated. Rather than wait for Piper to gain any more initiative, Aerrow charged forward and dropped to the floor at the last moment, skidding under Piper's guard as his front foot took out one of Piper's legs. Now off balance, Piper fell, landing on top of Aerrow and halting his forward momentum. She quickly swung with a fist, hoping to daze Aerrow, but the Sky Knight saw it coming and moved his head out of the way, causing Piper's fist to strike the metal floor with ringing force. In retaliation, Aerrow rolled the two of them, pinning Piper under him.

"Sorry about this Piper," Aerrow said as he quickly pulled out one of his blades and fired an energy blast into Piper, stunning her momentarily. He quickly pulled the restraint jacket out of where he had tucked it in his belt and pulled Piper's arms through it then wrapped her arms behind her back, securing the sleeves with a couple buckles each. He also secured the face mask, that way Piper would not be able to call Talons down on them as they traveled through the tower to the hanger levels. Having ensured that she would not cause trouble or call for help, Aerrow next tightened the leg strap that would prevent Piper from running away. He had just begun to constrict the leg strap when Piper kicked at him, catching him in the side of the jaw, but not really hurting him that much. With a sudden yank, he tightened the strap all the way, earning him a venomous glare from Piper. Having finished securing Piper for the trip ahead, Aerrow stood up and grabbed one of the towing straps that were attached to the back of the jacket. It was rather demeaning to drag Piper along behind him, but given the circumstances…

"Alright Piper, time to go." Aerrow said with a consoling smile as he pulled her out of the observatory.


	11. Chapter 11

**Darkening Skies: The Cyclonia Ascendant**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 3**

Having made his way down to the hanger levels, Aerrow was surprised to find the halls nearly devoid of life, save for a few Talons standing guard. If things had gone according to plan, the riot should have reached this level a couple minutes ago. It was probable that there might have been some minor delay; a couple few minutes was nothing to be too concerned about. Then again, that was no excuse for why he should just stand here and wait for the riot to come to him. Racing down the hall with Piper in tow, Aerrow eventually heard the sounds of battle coming from down the hall and turned a curve in the hall to find the prisoners engaged in battle against the Talons and, worse of all, Master Cyclonis herself. The leader of Cyclonia stood amidst the surging tides of battle, a smoke-like shield blocking any attacks made on her while smoky tendrils grabbed nearby prisoners and flung them into walls or other prisoners. A sudden explosion of blue energy against her shield told Aerrow that Finn was trying to take her down, but the other Storm Hawks were nowhere to be seen in the mass of humanity clogging the hallway. Rather than leap right into the fray, Aerrow decided to wait and remain hidden until the next time Finn blasted Master Cyclonis. Hopefully the explosive arrows combined with his Sky Knight move would break that shield, but last time he had fought Master Cyclonis his move had not even put a dent in her barrier. Maybe there was another way though… he just needed the other Storm Hawks.

"Will you just scram already?" Starling shouted in frustration as Shar threw several daggers at her. The persistence of the little freak was really beginning to grate on her last nerve; even with help from Junko, Stork and Radarr, they still had not managed to subdue him for long. After being smashed into a wall several times, zapped, punched in the face by Junko and shot multiple times common sense would seem to dictate that their opponent would be dead of severe compound trauma if nothing else. Instead however, he continued to return, seemingly none the worse for wear.

"You will not defeat me, understand that and accept it. Though winning is not a probability for either side right now, if delayed long enough you will ultimately lose." Shar said as he pulled out two more daggers and threw them at Starling, ignoring the other Storm Hawks attacking him. Starling immediately rolled backwards as the daggers rebounded off the floor where she had been. Even as she did so, she could not help but acknowledge the truth of his words. With Master Cyclonis taking down anyone who came near her and this freak occupying them from behind, it was only a matter of time until the riot was halted and crushed. They had been focusing on the wrong target, allowing the irritation they felt at Shar's persistence dominate their thinking when in actuality, any of the prisoners could probably fight this man.

"Quick everyone, into the mob; let them handle this guy!" Starling yelled as she reached this revelation. Following her order, the Storm Hawks raced into the mob, heading off to battle the biggest threat, Master Cyclonis herself. Starling knew she would not be much help with her weapon in its current state, but every little bit helped in situations such as this and she began firing energy blasts at Master Cyclonis from a range. Although the blasts were dissipated by the odd shield that surrounded the witch, they did weaken the barrier and bring it closer to collapse. Junko and Finn also added in their own contributions, weakening the shield further. For her part, Master Cyclonis seemed decidedly uninterested in any damage her shield took, focusing her attention on the other prisoners. Likely she was saving the Storm Hawks for last to enjoy beating them down personally, a decidedly unappealing scenario all things considered. As the Storm Hawks leveled another round of fire at Master Cyclonis, another bolt which Starling recognized as the Lightning Claw joined the barrage. Aerrow must have completed his self-assigned mission and come beck to help the riot along. This was a bittersweet development. On the positive side, another Sky Knight besides her would enhance their firepower greatly; on the negative side however, even his added firepower had not seemed to make a difference on how quickly they were draining the shield. In the next volley however, Aerrow fired at the ceiling repeatedly, bringing a large section of the roof crashing down on Master Cyclonis and the Talons.

"Everybody move!" Aerrow yelled as he waved the prisoners onward, racing toward the hangers. As she ran Starling looked around, trying to spot Shar in the crowd, but the traitor was nowhere to be seen. Unfortunately, she did not have the time to conduct a thorough search and quickly hurried on ahead. Since the hanger containing the Condor was sure to be especially well secured, the plan had called for the Storm Hawks to break into one of the Talon Switchblade hangers and use the Switchblades to land on the docking platform where the Condor was sure to have been stored temporarily. With the Talons and Master Cyclonis temporarily distracted, the plan should run smoothly now, but anything could happen. As it happened, the hanger they were breaking into was lightly guarded, with only a couple Talons standing guard outside the door. Starling wondered why this seemed to be so easy; especially considering the number of Talons there should be here. The Switchblades were easy enough to secure, and the Storm Hawks were soon cruising along the outside of Cyclonia to the hanger where the Condor was stored, the majority of the prisoners following after them. Within five minutes, the Condor was cruising away from Cyclonia at top speed.


	12. Chapter 12

**Darkening Skies: The Cyclonia Ascendant**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 4**

Aerrow walked up from the cargo hold onto the bridge of the Condor and dropped into a chair near the rear of the room. At Starling's request, the two of them had talked to every person in the hold, looking for Shar in case he had managed to sneak aboard. However, no sign of the treacherous man could be found; although Aerrow did feel better knowing that the whole death had been staged. Evidently to deliver the crystal that had infected Piper, he was certain despite the lack of evidence supporting his suspicion. As he looked across the bridge, he noted that Starling was currently driving the Condor while Stork was busy tinkering with a gadget of some kind. As soon as they reached Atmosia, they would drop these prisoners off for debriefing and then warn them of the impending attack on the main crystal mines. If it had not happened already and in that case, they would definitely participate in the battle to reclaim the mines. After a moment's rest, Aerrow stood back and walked over to where Stork was busy putting some kind of device together.

"What are you building Stork?" Aerrow asked as he leaned over to look at the complicated machine.

"It's a scanner designed to pick up neural energy, electro-chemical pulses. It will tell us where the crystal Master Cyclonis implanted into Piper is and allow us to remove it. That is, if it's not too late already…" Stork explained; his eye twitching as he said the last statement.

"Interesting." Aerrow said as he tried to figure out how such a device might work, finally deciding Stork knew what he was doing. "When will it be ready?"

"Right about… now." Stork said as he locked an energy crystal into a socket on the top of the machine and flipped a couple switches.

"Kind of convenient timing isn't it?" Aerrow asked skeptically.

"I'll have you know I've been working on this thing for months, we'll need it to detect the Anton Nerve Parasite as it devours our nerves." Stork said as his eye twitched again.

"Right…" Aerrow said, cocking an eyebrow at Stork, "Well, let's put this thing to use then and get Piper back to normal." In response, Stork handed Aerrow the scanner and took the controls for the Condor back from Starling, who walked back to join Aerrow. The two walked over to where Piper was securely wrapped up and Aerrow began running the scanner over Piper. While most of Piper's body showed up as faintly glowing blue, her head, spine and the palm of her right hand showed up as brightly shining red auras.

"Well, that's interesting." Aerrow said as he set the scanner off to one side. "Starling, can you hand me the x-ray binoculars Stork built?" Aerrow asked and a second later Starling set the binoculars in Aerrow's outstretched hand. He activated the x-ray mode on the binoculars and looked at Piper's right palm. There, just below the skin, was a tiny crystalline fragment embedded in her hand where the original crystal had sliced into Piper's hand. It would be easy enough to remove; the real problem would be preventing the shard from fragmenting again and infecting them. Piper's heavy gloves that she used for handling larger crystals such as eruption crystals might help in that department, but just to be safe he would have Starling watching. If something went wrong, she could always try and remove the crystal fragments before anything serious happened.

"I found it. We should probably remove as soon as possible before it causes anymore damage, Starling if you would be willing to assist me?" Aerrow said as he grabbed one of the carrying straps and took Piper to her little crystal lab. Starling shrugged and decided to follow him; Aerrow might know more than the rest of them about this thing, after all, he and Piper had been spending some time together. He might need the help for some reason.

As she entered Piper's room, she found Aerrow already rummaging around in the various cabinets and storage bins, finally pulling out a pair of thick rubber gloves. Not really the most nimble thing to be using, but Starling figured that Aerrow had his reasons. After donning the gloves, Aerrow proceeded to grab a pair of tweezers and antiseptic from the first aid kit and a small knife. After wiping down the blade with antiseptic, he took the knife, tweezers, more antiseptic and gauze over to where Piper was sitting. He carefully undid the straps holding Pipers right hand in place, causing Starling to drop into a battle stance in case the evil Storm Hawk did anything. As it was, Piper looked as though she had resigned herself to her fate, an odd expression to have considering what had happened to her. With a quick slice across the palm, Aerrow revealed the shard that had caused all of their problems recently and snatched it out with the pair of tweezers. Almost immediately, the fragment turned into a cloud of dust and tiny sharp needles that sprayed into the glove Aerrow was wearing. Fortunately the rubber was more than thick enough to protect him from the fragments and Aerrow quickly threw the glove out the window to prevent any risk of infection with the relics of the crystal. He then returned and checked over Piper's hand and, evidently finding no more fragments, cleaned the wound quickly and wrapped it up. By the time he had finished wrapping Piper's hand, the female Storm Hawk had recovered from the shock of having the crystal removed and was looking more aware of her surroundings.

"You alright Piper?" Aerrow asked as Starling decided to discreetly exit.

"I… I think I'll be fine." Piper said unsteadily as she rubbed the side of her head with her uninjured hand.

"No desires to dominate the world?" Aerrow asked, hoping to make her laugh at least a little. It did not look like it was going to work just yet, at least not with a weak semi-joke like that.

"I appreciate the attempt Aerrow…" Piper said with a small smile on her face, "But it's a little difficult to get over what I did right now. I'll be fine, don't worry."

"Well, okay, but just remember that it was not your fault really, Master Cyclonis was using that crystal to somehow control you." Aerrow said in a soothing tone, he really did not want Piper to beat herself up over something that she had no control over. After a long moment, Piper stood up and looked at Aerrow.

"Well, I'm not going to feel any better about this just sitting here mopping, let's see if I can find out anything on the crystal mine. There are probably some old charts that show what the terra looks like around here somewhere… Maybe that old map Stork has from 200 years ago." She said in a determined voice.

"That's the spirit!" Aerrow said as the two headed up to the bridge.

Marrshal sighed quietly to himself as he looked at the ex-prisoners that were wandering around the Condor's cargo hold around him. Thanks to the… generous offer from one of the escaping Sky Knights, he had gained an exclusive pass onto the Condor. Thankfully there escape had involved no aerial combat; otherwise he would have stood out like a sore thumb. Disgracefully, even Snipe might be able to match him in aerial combat… it was not a thought he liked to dwell on, since he had never engaged in sky duels it was pointless to consider the outcome of such things. A couple of the other Sky Knights that had escaped walked up to Marrshal, looking eager to engage in some meaningless small talk. While he exchanged idle banter with the two, Marrshal reflected on the mission he had been given by Master Cyclonis while he had been helping to dig her out from under the rubble. However, she had other plans for him and, instead of punishing him or waiting for him to finish digging her out, had told him to quickly board the Condor and find out how the Sky Knights planned to retake the mine. He had understood; he needed to get those plans to the Dark Ace so they could plan when the best time to evacuate would be. As confusing as it would likely be to the Dark Ace, Snipe and Ravess, Master Cyclonis had no intention of holding the mine yet. The rest of the plan depended on his intelligence and planning, unfortunately, he still had some work to do in that regard. Until then however, he had other important matters to focus on; namely observation, one of his favorite activities to engage in. By the looks of things and the direction they were headed, Marrshal estimated they were nearing Terra Atmosia, where they would likely drop him and the other prisoners off before the Sky Knights assembled to attack the Cyclonian occupied mine. How mind-numbingly predictable… a better strategy in his opinion would be to sneak in and destroy the Cyclonians ability to defend the mine before commencing a conventional assault. Either would work given the circumstances, but engaging in unexpected tactics always gave one the extra advantage of surprise. Oh well, at least his report would be simple enough…

"Unfortunately, there really isn't much detail of the mine terra on any map… Even though they knew it existed, no one really explored the terra until a couple hundred years ago. They must have found rich veins of crystal on the terra relatively quickly because by the time of the next year's map the terra was reported as being destroyed in a volcanic eruption. From then on, no one has set foot on the terra according to official and unofficial records. It's a pretty good cover up all things considered." Piper said as she laid out two ancient maps on the dining table, "Obviously it didn't work in this case, no doubt thanks to Shar."

"Well, not much we can do about that now; it's all in the past." Aerrow said as he examined the maps laid out in front of them, "What's important is that we get some idea of what we are going up against before we head in. The Cyclonians have only probably been holding the mine for a couple days or so now, so I doubt that they've put up much in the way of new defenses."

"I tend to agree, but we may find out differently once we arrive on Atmosia." Piper said as she brought out an old records book, "Now then, later reports indicate that the presence of a large, dense cloud bank in the area. We can assume this is probably hiding the mine itself, but that would be insufficient to hold back a Cyclonian invasion, so there must be other defenses."

"By the looks of this map, there are lots of rocky spires that surround the terra. With that cloud cover, it would be easy to run into one and lose your ship. Not to mention I'm sure there are defensive turrets ringing that terra just in case."

"Right… Undoubtedly augmented by massive numbers of Talons and Cyclonian destroyers, we'll be shot in before we even to a chance to fight." Stork interjected, wringing his hands together nervously.

"Calm down Stork, I'm sure that the Sky Knights have a better idea of what we're going up against and have planned accordingly."

Meanwhile, Master Cyclonis stood in the observation lounge that she and Piper had been using earlier, a bitter expression on her face. The Storm Hawks escaping from prison had not been part of her plan and this irked her. At least she had managed to use this inconvenience to have Marrshal infiltrate the ranks of the Sky Knights and deliver her message to the Talon commanders. Still, aside from that minor glitch, everything was going according to plan and soon the entire Atmos would once again belong to her.


	13. Chapter 13

**Darkening Skies: The Cyclonia Ascendant**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 5**

"A frontal attack? How can they be so ignorant?" Piper griped as she and Aerrow walked back to the Condor after attending a meeting with the Sky Knights some days later, "I mean, they tried that before with the Aurora Stone and it didn't work, what makes them think it will this time? And they didn't even take my suggestion seriously when I presented an alternative plan for the counter-attack. Sometimes I wish they would finally recognize us as full fledged Sky Knights so then we could actually make a difference in these meetings." Aerrow simply walked alongside her, content to let her finish venting her frustration before he said anything.

"It's okay Piper, we'll just do it ourselves, besides this isn't any harder than when we raided Cyclonia a few years back." Aerrow said as he noticed another Sky Knight walking towards them.

"Excuse me; I'm Nimbus, one of the Sky Knights from Terra Meteora." The man said as he caught up with the pair, "I'm sorry about the reception your plan received back there, so many of the other Sky Knights prefer to follow the lead of the Rex Guardians and you know how 'honorable' they can be. I for one think that your plan has more promise to it and would be happy to assist."

"Really? Thanks, we'll need all the help we can get to make this as successful as possible." Aerrow said and the trio neared the Condor's boarding ramp, "If you'd like to join us for an impromptu briefing aboard the Condor, we'd be happy to have you."

"Sure, anything to help." Nimbus said as the three walked up the boarding ramp, Aerrow giving Piper a little nod. Piper understood; this was a little convenient and, while it was improbable that Nimbus was anything other than a Sky Knight, Starling's recent warnings about Shar had them all on edge a little.

"Glad to hear it, while Aerrow gathers the other Storm Hawks, would you help me carry some things out of my room?" Piper asked nicely as Aerrow headed for Finn's room.

"Sure." Nimbus said evenly as the two walked to Piper's room. Once inside, Piper began pulling out various maps and charts as well as some design specifications. At random intervals, she would ask Nimbus to hold something for her while she checked under or behind where it was. One of the items she tossed to him happened to be a blocker crystal, and as Nimbus caught it, she cast a covert glance backward to see if anything happened. Despite the presence of the blocker crystal, nothing appeared to be happening to Nimbus, although he could have hid a cloaking crystal elsewhere. Just to check, Piper made sure to 'accidentally' drop the blocker crystal. Aside from a flash when the crystal passed by Nimbus's weapon belt, nothing unusual happened.

"Sorry about that." Nimbus said as he bent down to pick up the crystal, "I really should be more careful, blocker crystals like this are hard to come by. How did you manage to get your hands on one?"

"Just lucky I guess; although the thing was a real pain to refine, let me tell you." Piper said as she put the blocker back in its holder, "So you know about crystals then?"

"Not really, except for weather altering crystals, most of what I know is hearsay and information I manage to glean from the books I have. But they're mostly history and engineering books so they don't really contain too much pertinent information."

"History and engineering? That's an odd combination."

"Well, I'm the mechanic for my squad; the history is more of a hobby really." Nimbus explained as the two headed up to the bridge, "I really don't plan on being a Sky Knight forever, no offense, but it's just not for me. That's maybe part of the reason why I'm helping… I know it sounds selfish, but the faster Cyclonia falls the sooner I can indulge my real interests and helping you sounds like it will bring about that dream a little faster."

"Well, I guess I can't blame you." Piper said, not entirely certain how to respond. After all, this guy seemed to have less than stellar motives although he seemed to be more free-thinking in his approach and was motivated, always a plus. Time alone would tell.

As the two entered the bridge, they found the remainder of the Storm Hawks waiting for them. Nimbus took up a position next to Starling after setting the items he was transporting down while Piper setup her presentation. Aerrow started to walk over to help, but Piper waved him off; this presentation would not take long to set up in any case.

"Okay everyone." Piper said as she finished setting up her supplies, "From what we know of the mining terra from the Sky Knight meeting, the terra had significant defense lines. In addition to a Sky Knight squadron, the terra also boasts numerous cannons both shielded and unshielded and a barrier of clouds hiding it from view. Inside this thick cloud layer are numerous floating mine fields guided on a precise schedule and massive rock spires that stick far up into normal traffic lanes. Since the Cyclonians have seized control, it's a fairly safe bet that the Sky Knights are gone as well as most of the defensive turrets and thanks to the freighter captains we know the safe routes through the cloud bank. That leaves only the Cyclonians as the real threat, and we know that there were five destroyers with the assault force. That number has decreased to two, although that is still a substantial force, especially considering the power of each destroyer and how many Talons they each can deploy. Although the other Sky Knights think they can overcome these obstacles, I think we might like to try a plan with more finesse and less risk to the individual."

"With this in mind, I paid close attention during the meeting and found something very interesting." Piper continued as she rolled out a subterranean map of the mine terra. "As you can see here, there is a cavern system that opens out the side of the terra below the line of any sentries they may have stationed in the mining complex. These caves have another exit located inside the defensive perimeter. We should be able to sneak inside and plant some explosive crystals onboard the destroyers. That way, we can sabotage them prior to the arrival of the Sky Knights. We can then return to our skimmers and commence a more formal assault. With us adding to the pandemonium caused by the detonations, the Talons will be unprepared for the Sky Knight assault that is soon to follow. We'll have to be careful not to be spotted, but otherwise, I think we're good to go. Any questions?" After waiting a few minutes to see if anyone had any questions, the Storm Hawks quickly went to their stations and launched, since they needed to arrive a significant amount of time ahead of the attack proper.


	14. Chapter 14

**Darkening Skies: The Cyclonia Ascendant**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 6**

The infiltration of the mining terra had gone off nearly without a hitch, the only problem occurring when Nimbus almost slammed his skimmer into the side of the terra due to nervousness. What he had said before was true, he really was not the best Sky Knight in the world, but now that they were on solid ground again he seemed more at ease. At least that would make this next part of the mission that much easier. The six of them had kept mostly out of sight, but always acted as though they belonged there; a ruse greatly enhanced by the Talon uniforms they were wearing. Piper had always wondered why the Cyclonians had never bothered to change the design of their uniforms considering how many had been stolen by Sky Knights. Then again, maybe Master Cyclonis did not realize just how many uniforms had actually been stolen or lost.

Casually, so as not to arouse too much suspicion, the team boarded the first destroyer and headed for the engine room. There Junko and Nimbus pretended to run an engine analysis while the rest of the team planted eruption crystal empowered explosives in critical areas of the engines. Since there were not many Talons about right now, no one noticed their abnormal activity, a mistake they would certainly regret here soon. As the team finished planting the explosives, they headed over to the second destroyer to repeat the process. However, as they approached the second cruiser, a voice came from behind them.

"Hold it, I don't recognize you." A Talon said as he and his squad marched up to the group of incognito Sky Knights. "I'll need to see your work order and identifications."

"Of course, just a second." Aerrow said as he reached into his work kit to pull out the forged identifications and work orders. Under other circumstances, Radarr would have been hiding in the work kit to attack the Talons, but they all had agreed that security at the site would be too tight for then to cause such a racket. So instead, they had crafted false identifications and work orders to hopefully fool a casual inspection by any Talon. By the look on the squad leader's face, he was not quite convinced.

"Well, I suppose everything checks out." The squad leader said thoughtfully as he looked over the group of 'workers.' After a long moment of thought, he finally continued, "Although you would probably be more useful working on the crystal converters in the mining equipment power plant," he said, pointing at Junko. At this pronouncement, Aerrow felt a sudden sinking feeling in his stomach. If they were separated, there was no guarantee that the separated people would manage to escape the terra before they were discovered. Both his and Piper's minds raced as they tried to think up an excuse that would prevent the Talons from breaking up the group.

"I should probably be the one to go." Nimbus said suddenly before either Aerrow or Piper could speak, "My friend here may be more experienced with crystal converters in general, but as you can see from the specialization codes on my ID, I have more experience with the requirements for mining equipment crystal converters. I would have a better understanding of the tolerances the converters would need."

"Well, alright." The Talon said, caught slightly off guard by this new development.

"Just give me a minute to transfer some of my blueprints to my colleagues and I'll join you." Nimbus said as he started sorting through the equipment in his work kit. The Talon squad, clearly uninterested in the proceedings, backed off and waited for Nimbus to finish.

"What are you doing?" Starling whispered in a harsh voice, "You don't have the tools necessary to do any of that work. They'll catch you for sure."

"Better me than one of you Storm Hawks." Nimbus replied in a hushed tone as he handed over the explosives hidden in his kit, "Can you imagine the blow to morale if one of you were to be killed? I'm no one special, no one will miss me, and I'll just be dismissed as a casualty of war. I don't want to do this, but I know my duty as a Sky Knight. All other concerns are secondary." From the tone of his voice, it was clear that the other Sky Knight knew what his fate would likely be and was prepared to accept it. His tone also said that he would not let anyone else take his place, not that they could do so anymore without raising suspicion among the Talons. With nothing else to say, the other Storm Hawks quietly accepted the explosives and nodded silent goodbyes as Nimbus walked over to the Talons and gestured, indicating his readiness to get to work on the mining converters. Realizing their cover could be blown any minute now, the remaining members of the team quickly boarded the second destroyer and planted their explosives. Once they had accomplished their aims, the group quickly made their way back to where their skimmers were hidden, leaving Nimbus's skimmer behind in case the other Sky Knight managed to escape. According to the plan, as soon as they returned to the Condor, they would detonate the explosives, clearing the way for the Sky Knight assault to proceed.

"Finally, it is good to be back in proper uniform." Marrshal said as he adjusted his chest armor and strode quietly out of the empty conference room adjoining the defense command center. In the center of the command center, the Dark Ace stood watching the Talons conduct the day to day business of monitoring security threats. At the sound of Marrshal clearing his throat, Dark Ace turned and nodded to his fellow Talon commander as Marrshal walked up to the taller man.

"I trust you have completed your mission successfully?" Dark Ace said as he turned his attention back to the Talons working at their consoles.

"Who do you think I am, Snipe?" Marrshal said in a slightly grating tone. Obviously the spymaster had not taken his failure to prevent the prison break well and, although Master Cyclonis had taken his failure in stride as simply the result of his lack of combat ability, Marrshal evidently held himself to a higher standard of performance in his tasks. Probably a good sign that he was frustrated at his inability to fight, a marked difference from Ravess or Snipe, who probably would have made up some excuse. Nonetheless, the Dark Ace did not hold such a low opinion of Marrshal, at least not yet, and he may as well make that opinion known.

"Not at all spymaster, I was merely asking a rhetorical question. I await any information you might supply, as soon as you wish to provide it." The Dark Ace said in as contrite a tone as possible, which was less a remorseful tone and more a tone used for idle banter.

"Your tone is rather insincere, although no doubt your apology is relatively sincere. Very well… the Sky Knights are planning a frontal assault on this terra, as could be expected considering that Harrier of the Rex Guardians is the one leading the attack. Such a tactic would normally result in horrible losses among the Sky Knights, but the Storm Hawks have devised a plan that would shift the strategic advantage back to favor the Sky Knights. The information Nimbus so willingly provided before we shipped him off to prison has revealed the details of the plan in full. The Storm Hawks have planted explosives in the engines of our destroyers, intending to detonate them just prior to the main Sky Knight assault. While it would be a relatively simple matter to find and remove the explosives, this is not what our master intends. Instead, the explosive should be relocated to non-vital areas of the ships where the explosions will visually approximate the same result as the detonation of the explosives in their intended locations." Marrshal explained in a quiet voice so the Talons would not overhear, "A diagram of the exact positions the explosives must be relocated to will be provided for any of the Talons that you assign to the task, but haste is of the essence. You know the plan that our master intends, and the Storm Hawks have provided the perfect cover for the plan to proceed."

"I remember the message Master Cyclonis sent, you just be sure to follow through with your part." The Dark Ace said as Marrshal left the command center. Once the spymaster had left the room, he looked down at the map that had somehow appeared in his hand, silently griping about how sneaky the man was. After taking a moment to indulge his irritation, the Dark Ace called for several of the Talon squad captains.

Aerrow sighed as he and the rest of the infiltration team returned to the Condor. With the explosives in place and the team back on the Condor, now was the time to detonate the explosives and then join the main incoming assault. Originally their plan had been to launch their own separate attack that would carry over into the Sky Knight attack, but the other Sky Knights had organized with haste and had probably launched no more than an hour or two behind the Storm Hawks. With that information, Piper had revised their plan in route so that the team would join the main assault. It was partially a matter of convenience but more a matter of dealing with the Dark Ace, who was certain to show up in the coming battle.

"Stork, take us out of here and hit the detonator." Piper said into the intercom system as the Condor's engines roared, moving the ship forward and about as Stork turned the Condor toward the oncoming Sky Knight attack. It did not take long for the attack wave to come into view, a massive armada of Sky Knights and any associated carriers, all headed for the mining terra. As the Condor joined the formation, Aerrow and the other Storm Hawks deployed out of the hanger and took up their own positions in the formation. It would only be a few minutes before the attack wave broke through the inner 'wall' of the cloud bank surrounding the terra, and then the real attack would begin.


	15. Chapter 15

**Darkening Skies: The Cyclonia Ascendant**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 7**

Explosive shockwaves ripped through the Cyclonian docking facilities as the explosives the Storm Hawks had planted detonated, causing large pillars of flame to rupture the hulls of the destroyers berthed at the facility. As the concussive waves echoed off in the distance, the Dark Ace steadied himself, having been knocked off-balance by the shockwaves. Hopefully the Talons had been able to move all of the explosives in time, if they had not; it was not like he would be able to punish them anyways. They had only had about ten minutes or so before the explosions, so whether or not the Talons had completed their objectives was still up for debate.

"It would appear that the Talons were not entirely successful in their efforts." Marrshal said with disdain as he appeared behind the Dark Ace, "They missed several of the devices and as a result there is significant damage to the engines of the destroyers. I recommend we instead proceed with Plan 25- Delta." As the spymaster spoke, Dark Ace thought through the planning session, trying to remember what all Plan 25- Delta entailed.

"Oh, this is going to be fun…" he said with a sinister smile as the full details of the plan came back to him.

"Of course, we will be doing exactly what they expect us to do… Which is why they will not notice the deception until it is too late." Marrshal concurred as he vanished once more.

The Atmosian forces broke through the barrier clouds into the pocket of clearer air surrounding the mining terra, only to be confronted with a scene of mass pandemonium. Massive pillars of black smoke rose from the destroyers attached to some form of docking structure. Barely visible Talons could be seen rushing about, clearly bringing emergency supplies to the wounded ships, oblivious to the oncoming Sky Knight assault for the moment.

"All squadrons to me!" Harrier called out as he unsheathed his sword and activated the energy blade. In response, the other Sky Knights drew their own weapons and Aerrow heard the tell-tale whine of the carriers behind them deploying their own ship cannons. With a simple forward pointing gesture from Harrier, the Sky Knights surged forward, zeroing in on the Switchblades and the crippled destroyers to prevent the Cyclonians from mounting an effective defense. Not wanting to be left behind, the Storm Hawks racing into the combat zone, easily dodging the sparse turret fire that lanced up into the skies around them. With several quick slashes of his blades, Aerrow quickly dismantled a Switchblade still on the ground while Radarr dropped an eruption crystal on another skimmer as they flew over it. Looking back though, Aerrow could not help but feel that the Talons really did not care what happened to their Switchblades. Something was wrong with this entire attack, especially since the Dark Ace was here as well, and he had yet to show himself.

Marrshal quickly hurried down one of the dank subterranean passages that plunged through the foundation of the mining terra, making quick time to his final destination. At long last, he arrived at a cavern hidden beneath one of the plains of the terra above. Arranged in neat rows and columns across the cavern floor were dozens upon dozens of extra Switchblades, stored here in case of an attack like this. He quickly pulled a lever off to his right and stood next to the nearest Switchblade as a loud grinding sound reverberated through the cave. Around him, the underground grotto seemed to fall away as the platform the skimmers rested upon rose upward. Marrshal wasted no time and quickly walked to the center of the platform and kicked another switch as the platform closed to within a few feet of the cavern ceiling. The platform stopped rising and he pulled out his assassin blade, quickly jabbing it upward into the thin layer that separated him from the open air. As his blade tore through the material with a quiet ripping sound, he slashed downward, sending out a lightning bolt like streamer that cut a straight line through the material until it finally dissipated against the stone rim of the opening, its energy expended. He then repeated the process three more times and the ceiling above him gave way, dust and dirt raining down as the cloth that had hidden the portal fell away, leaving only open sky above him. Remembering exactly where the switch was, Marrshal kicked it back to its original position and the platform once again continued its upward ascent. As he reached the level of the ground above, he could see that Talons surrounded the entrance to the underground hanger, ready and eager to climb aboard their rides and take the fight to the Sky Knights. As the platform locked into place, the Dark Ace emerged from the crowd surrounding the skimmers and smirked at Marrshal.

"Well, I must admit, you are quite good at hiding things." The Dark Ace said as he walked over to his specialized Switchblade. "I hadn't even noticed my skimmer was missing…" he added, an ominous tone creeping into his voice.

"That is not your skimmer, merely a meticulously constructed duplicate." Marrshal said with a shrug, "Just in case your original was somehow destroyed in the initial assault, I thought it best to bring this duplicate made awhile back. In the meantime, your original skimmer can be taken off-terra if you so wish it."

"I doubt I'll need another skimmer, go ahead a take it to the evacuation ships. Speaking of which, I trust the crystal from the raiding base have finally been retrieved as Master Cyclonis ordered?"

"Of course, it has already been done."

"Good, I expect you will accomplish the rest of your objectives while we provide a suitable distraction?"

"It goes without saying."

Aerrow had just completed another strafing run of the Talon airfield when suddenly his instincts made him roll off to the left, narrowly dodging a bolt of brilliant crimson energy. Righting himself, he looked to see the source of the blast and felt his blood run cold for a moment as he saw a massive counter attack of over one hundred Talons bearing down on the Sky Knights. However, the thrill of actual combat supplanted the chill almost as he felt it, particularly when he spotted the Dark Ace leading the counter attack.

"Incoming!" he yelled back over his shoulder to alert the other Sky Knight squadrons of this development before turning back to face the oncoming assault. Leaping up to stand on his skimmer, he dove straight toward the Dark Ace, energy blades in an attack position. With a wicked smirk on his face, the Dark Ace barrel-rolled around Aerrow and accelerated into a large grouping of Sky Knights.

"Sorry Aerrow, but you'll have to wait while I dispose of a few inconveniences!" The Dark Ace shouted back as he blasted two Sky Knights out of the air, "Feel free to play with the Talons in the meantime!"

Rather than take the Dark Ace up on his 'generous' offer, Aerrow came about and charged at full speed toward the Dark Ace. However, two Talons quickly raced up alongside Aerrow and started firing energy blasts at him, forcing the Sky Knight into a quick downward dive to avoid being hit. As a pleasant side effect of his maneuver, both Switchblades burst into flame and spiraled off into the landscape as the Talons leaped off. Reorienting himself in relation to the battle around him, Aerrow quickly spied the Dark Ace climbing up through the ranks of Sky Knights, dispatching some while forcing others to dodge out of the way in the face of his furious onslaught. Determined to stop him, Aerrow again accelerated to top speed, climbing to follow the Talon commander as several Talons raced ahead to block him from his goal. He did not have time to be dealing with these lackeys!

"Radarr, on my mark, flip between plane and bike modes, got it?" Aerrow said quickly over his shoulder to his copilot. After receiving a growled acknowledgement from Radarr, Aerrow drove straight toward the nearest Talon.

"Now Radarr!" he yelled as the wings on his skimmer folded away and the wheels extended. As split second later, his bike landed on the Switchblade, forcing the Talon to bail out. Using his improvised 'landing strip' as a platform, Aerrow angled slightly and continued onward, signaling Radarr to extend his wings again as they shot toward the next Talon in line. They repeated the process over and over, forcing the Talons off their rides while carrying them ever closer to the Dark Ace. A minute later, Aerrow bounced off the last Talon between him and his goal and leapt over to confront the Dark Ace. Just as he landed on the back of the Dark Ace's skimmer however, the man slashed backward, forcing Aerrow to leap forward to avoid being left behind. As he landed, the Dark Ace stood to confront him, his energy sword glowing an ominous red color.

"Well, I have to say, your persistence continues to impress Aerrow." The Dark Ace said as he dodged a counter-strike from the young Sky Knight. "But I have to ask, what do you really think you're going to accomplish here? We've already proven that no place is beyond the grasp of Master Cyclonis, any retreat from this place will only be temporary." He continued as he blocked a second slash, catching one of Aerrow's blades between the blades of his sword and quickly twisting in a bid to disarm Aerrow of one of his weapons. Aerrow was quick to respond however and pulled his blade out before the spin over-rotated his grip. Hoping his quick response had caught the Dark Ace off guard; Aerrow struck back with his other blade and used his left blade to push back the Dark Ace's sword to prevent him from possibly blocking. With no way to block, the Dark Ace was forced to fall back to the rear of his skimmer.

"It doesn't matter what you try, Cyclonia will never win!" Aerrow shot back in defiance as he pressed his advantage by hammering on the Dark Ace's blade, trying to knock his guard aside, "One traitor or even one hundred, it will never be enough to tip the advantage in your favor!"

"A traitor? Oh you mean Shar? How naïve of you to think he was the only traitor involved in this." The Dark Ace responded with an evil grin as he deflected Aerrow's blow to one side, causing Aerrow to lose his balance and stumble slightly. "Then again, after your experiences with Carver, Harrier and Domiwick, I'm surprised that you wouldn't suspect more people of working for Cyclonia. Then again…" he continued as he leveled his sword at Aerrow's throat, "It doesn't really matter anymore does it?"

"This fight isn't over." Aerrow said with finality as he suddenly slashed upward, knocking the Dark Ace's sword away from him. Not wasting a moment, Aerrow leapt to his feet and slashed horizontally at the Dark Ace, who blocked with a vertical guard followed by a quick rotation intended to disarm Aerrow. Recognizing the move from before, Aerrow quickly brought his other blade around to block any further rotation and kicked the Dark Ace back, hoping to knock him off the back end of the skimmer. To his surprise, the Dark Ace dropped off the end and disappeared from view. Suddenly realizing what the Dark Ace was planning, Aerrow spun around just as his opponent vaulted back into the seat of the skimmer. His move was barely fast enough the block the vicious downward cut the Dark Ace delivered. With a few more forceful blows from the Dark Ace, Aerrow found himself balancing on the rear end of the skimmer. Below them, he could see Radarr quickly rising up to catch him should he be forced over the edge.

"See Aerrow, it seems you're wrong about so many things." The Dark Ace said as he again leveled his blade at Aerrow. With a simple grin, Aerrow leapt backward, landing in the seat of his skimmer as Radarr scampered out of the way. Quickly arcing up and over the Dark Ace's skimmer, Aerrow rotated upside-down and slashed at the Dark Ace with one blade while keeping the other up as a guard. The Dark Ace brought his sword up to block Aerrow's attack, clearly surprised by this new angle of attack. With a flurry of slashes and stabs, Aerrow forced the Dark Ace forward and up onto the wings of his skimmer. Realizing that he would be forced off his Switchblade unless he countered, the Dark Ace ducked down and rolled forward towards the rear of his skimmer, bringing him up behind Aerrow. Aerrow was quick to respond and looped up and over, again bringing him into position to force the Dark Ace toward the bow of his skimmer.

The Dark Ace hazarded a look down through the battle to see if Marrshal had completed his portion of the plan yet. It was a pleasant surprise to see that the man had indeed done his work well, as each of the destroyers now had two other vessels attached to it by heavy chains. These vessels had only recently been put into service, in case of engine failure on one of the massive destroyers. One would normally be enough to tow an entire destroyer, but considering the heavy cargo both cruisers were carrying, it was probably prudent to have two per destroyer. A test firing from each of the towing vessels told him that they were ready to launch and that Marrshal had no doubt accomplished all of his aims. Which meant it was time to end this.

"Sorry Aerrow, perhaps another time." The Dark Ace said, quickly dropping down into his seat and accelerating away from the battle site as Aerrow righted his skimmer to pursue the commander. However, his pursuit was suddenly interrupted by a massive roar that could only be the sound of a Cyclonian destroyer launching. Even as he watched the massive vessels heave themselves into the air, he could not shake his surprise at how well the Cyclonians had circumvented their plans. In addition to preventing the Cyclonians from deploying their destroyers in this battle, another objective of their plan had been the possible capture of two destroyers which they could salvage for supplies if nothing else. Below him, he observed the destroyers point their bows upward slightly and begin their slow yet relentless climb toward the attacking force. The Sky Knights, recognizing the danger presented, redoubled their efforts to clear the sky of Talons so they could help their carriers battle the oncoming warships. Their task was simplified by the sudden retreat of the Talons, as if the Cyclonians were simply going to retreat despite their sudden immense upgrade in terms of firepower. To confirm the absurdity of the situation, the destroyers continued to accelerate along bearings that would take them outside of the battle zone with only time for a few volleys of fire between the two sides. As the last remaining Talons disappeared into the hanger bays of the destroyers both ships altered their courses even further to completely avoid any further confrontation with the invading Sky Knights. A few minutes and several volleys of fire later and the Cyclonian occupation force had vanished into the clouds enshrouding the mining terra. By all appearances the battle was over.

**Chapter 8**

"Master Cyclonis, I must ask what the logic is in taking the Atmosians only major mine and then leaving it to be recaptured by the Sky Knights." Ravess asked, her tone reflected her state of profound bewilderment. "We could have won this war easily with the Atmosians having no crystals to arm themselves with. We have gained nothing from this entire exercise except the crystals Snipe and I secured during our raids. And who is this courier that he is allowed to attend this meeting?" she continued, gesturing at Marrshal as she asked about him.

"Do not question me." Master Cyclonis said in an icy tone as she continued working at her machine, assembling a brilliantly shining blue-white crystal from similar looking fragments. "There were specific reasons why we retreated from the terra. First and foremost, it would be impossible for us to hold it against the Atmosians for long; they would continue to attack using both conventional and covert assaults until we had no choice but to retreat. In addition, any shipments we made would surely be raided much as we did prior to our occupation, it would be impractical to guard every shipment without leaving ourselves unprotected and the Atmosians would get free crystals."

"Then why did we simply not wait to attack until we could secure our supply lines and domination? Now they will simply upgrade their security and make it impossible for us to attack them again." Ravess continued as both the Dark Ace and Marrshal shook their heads with disdain. After hearing the plan once, the Dark Ace had grasped the full implications of this convoluted scheme.

"I will explain this once and only once and the only reason I do so is so you will not bother me with your continuous questions." Master Cyclonis replied in a threatening tone as she stepped away from her machine and faced Ravess. "Now then, with our assault on the mining terra, we have shown the Atmosians how fragile their defenses are. As a result, they will undoubtedly station more Sky Knight Squadrons on the terra to protect while at the same time upgrading the defensive perimeter. In the meantime, there will be fewer and fewer Sky Knights left to defend the rest of Atmosia, particularly since you and Snipe are going to continue to lead assaults on the mining terra. Especially the convoys leaving and entering areas around the terra, force them to station more Sky Knights on the terra. With fewer Sky Knights to defend the other terras, they will be forced to call on groups of other Sky Knights to assist… Particularly as the size of our assaults continues to grow ever larger. And when the time is right… we will strike a blow that the Atmosians will never see coming…" Master Cyclonis finished, her voice becoming more malevolent as the sclera of her eyes began to turn black.


	16. Path of the Aerrow

**Darkening Skies: Path of the Aerrow**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 1**

It had been several months since the Sky Knights had managed to reclaim the main mine of Atmosia from the Cyclonians and things had only seemed to go downhill from there. As the Cyclonians tried to recapture the mine, more and more Sky Knight Squadrons had been assigned by the Council to protect the freighters that transported crystals to the various terras. This had left the terras with a shortage of Sky Knights and the Cyclonians had recently begun stepping up attacks on terras close to the borders of their territory. As a result, the Sky Knights often needed to call together several squadrons at once to keep the border terras safe. It was a deteriorating situation, since the Cyclonians had deployed enough forces to both tasks to make reassigning Sky Knights from one task to another unwise, but reassignments had to be made to ensure that neither the entire supply of crystals was cut nor all of the terras conquered. To help alleviate the situation, the Council had ordered the formation of at least a dozen more Sky Knight Squadrons; but the volunteers were still several months away from completing their training which meant that the shortage would continue for awhile longer.

To complicate matters, the Murk Raiders of Terra Deep had also begun raiding outside of their established areas, taking more ships by surprise as they grew bolder. According to reports from the Sky Knights who had fought against the Murk Raiders, there were unlimited swarms of the raiders. It was a disturbing situation that only continued to escalate as there were fewer Sky Knights to protect ships traveling in the area. Along the same lines, the Raptors under Repton were also growing more active, likely due to goading from Cyclonia.

Figuring that they should start with the problem of the least scope and move up from there, the Storm Hawks had decided to find out what the Raptors were planning. Once they had figured out their next move, they could coordinate with other Sky Knight teams to finally capture the Raptors, ending their threat. They were still some days away from Terra Bogaton however, and Piper was still working on a way to secure as much information as they possibly could.

Two Days Later…

"Here you are Marrshal, one custom ordered crystal to help our plan succeed." Master Cyclonis said as she handed an hourglass shaped transparent crystal to the hooded figure that stood behind her. "I trust that you have thoroughly thought this plan through?"

"My lady, you want me to strike as large a blow against Atmosian morale as possible. The only way this can be done is to strike a blow against the Storm Hawks. Unfortunately, thanks to Starling and past experiences, they are incredibly secure against infiltration using conventional methods. This crystal however, is not a conventional method; they will have no way to guard against it."

"And just how do you intend to get close enough to use this crystal?" Master Cyclonis asked her curiosity piqued.

"With a simple joint Raptor/ Cyclonian mission." Marrshal said, a grin spreading across his face, "With the magnitude of the various problems facing them, the Storm Hawks will be trying to eliminate as many problems as quickly as they can. Since they can only guess at the true scope of our operations, they must begin with the simplest problem and work their way up. Since in their past encounters the Storm Hawks have easily outwitted and beaten the Raptors, they will attempt to stop them first. Since they likely suspect that we are pulling the strings, they would be suspicious if they did not witness us telling them where to strike and thus a meeting has been arranged for their benefit. Since they need to capture the Raptors, they will need help from the other Sky Knights, who would normally be loathe to leave their own terras unprotected over such a minor matter. However, our presence on the raid will convince the other Sky Knights of the seriousness of the situation and guarantee that the Storm Hawks will attempt to capture the Raptors and give us an opportunity to get close in a sufficiently chaotic situation."

"An awfully complex plan just to simply guarantee that the Storm Hawks will show up where you want them to." Master Cyclonis said with a slight grimace.

"We have the luxury of time right now, so we may as well guarantee success." Marrshal said cautiously. "Sometimes making things more difficult is a better way to lure in a target, particularly if that target is a Sky Knight. Even more so if one can anticipate how a Sky Knight would respond to various situations. The Storm Hawks want to end the business with Repton quickly, rather than chase him across the Atmos. Thus they must go with an all or nothing strategy, if they cannot guarantee a successful capture; then they must wait until they can guarantee success. It is an odd situation, but it has been forced on them by our actions. The fact that so many Sky Knights will be there will also help, since there will be so many combatants in a small area it will be unlikely that they will notice anything out of the ordinary thanks to diffusion of responsibility."

"Interesting analysis… Very well, proceed with your plan."

With a slight bow, Marrshal disappeared into the shadows of the chamber. A few minutes later, he appeared near the Dark Ace, swiftly dodging back to avoid the other commander's instinctive response to sensing someone sneaking up on him.

"Why hello commander." Marrshal said cheerfully, pretending to ignore the sword pointed directly at where his heart would normally be.

"Oh, it's you." The Dark Ace responded, lowering his blade, "Might I ask what you want?"

"Your assistance in furthering the plans of our master is all. In order to do so, I need you to lead an attack along with the Raptors with me along for the ride. Then, at most a few days later, an attack must be launched on Terra Vapos. The rest will be explained to you, but first we must find a Talon…" Marrshal explained.

"Why?"

Altus Hawk looked in through the window of a specialized cell at the hooded figure that stood in the center of the room, his limbs chained to the walls and floor of the chamber. As he watched, the face of the figure seemed to begin melting and, with an irritated noise, he closed the window shutters.

"Well, it seems to have worked perfectly." Altus said as he turned to face the Dark Ace, "I admit, this body is quite different from the one I am used to, but considering that my body is standing in that cell… Well, I think you get the idea."

"Interesting, if only slightly freakish…" the Dark Ace murmured, largely at a loss for words at the impossibility of the situation. Marrshal now stood before him in the body of a simple Talon, rather than in his own form. "Although I'm not certain I know why you need the body of a Talon when you are a master of disguise."

"I do not want one of the Storm Hawks to know what my actual body looks like, it is better if they continue to think I look like Shar. Besides, if Aerrow himself begins to act a little differently under seemingly innocuous circumstances, the rest of the team will simply dismiss it as stress or something else. In the meantime, we will gain a great asset on our side and ensure that the morale of the Sky Knights is forever shattered through a clever deception they will never see. Misinformation is crucial to victory, now then, we have a meeting with Repton to go to and if we are late then the Storm Hawks will have no idea where to lay their trap for us."

"You go on ahead; I have some things to take care of."

Marrshal clearly did not like this suggestion, but there was no point in arguing and he quietly made his way down the stairs that lead up to this hidden prison. It was inevitable that others would be curious to see what he truly looked like since his face was normally hidden in the depths of his hood. It had only been a matter of time until someone found out what he truly looked like, this mission had only hastened the inevitable. Still it was better the Dark Ace be the one to first witness his true form than Ravess or Snipe, not that they remembered who he was. Still, this was not an ideal situation, since Master Cyclonis would not be pleased by the knowledge the Dark Ace would impart to her. With an inward shrug of defeat, Marrshal headed to the Talon barracks to select the proper Talons for this mission.

After the spymaster had left, the Dark Ace opened the shutters on the window into the cell, hoping to get a good look at the true face of Cyclonia's spymaster. As it was, he was in luck…

"Well, now this is interesting…"

Marrshal walked into the hanger where the Dark Ace's personal frigate would take them to Terra Bogaton to find both the Dark Ace and Master Cyclonis waiting for him. It was time, Master Cyclonis would not let this transgression stand while Marrshal was on his mission, and he could see it in her eyes. As he walked toward them, he reflected on how different Master Cyclonis was now. Over these past few months, her appearance had begun to change; her eyes were now entirely black with the exception of her glowing red irises. When angered, her entire eyes would turn blazing red and her voice could physically knock over those who were the target of her wrath. Besides her eyes changing, a dark grey mist now surrounded her feet. The source of these changes was a mystery to Marrshal, although he suspected it might have something to do with that crystal Master Cyclonis had received from Magus Psi. Regardless, these changes were also a sign of her increasing power, for nearly a month now she had not used her crystal machine for anything except when assembling the one blue-white crystal. In frustration, Marrshal mentally cleared his head so he could focus on the upcoming conversation with Master Cyclonis. Even though he already knew what it was about, Master Cyclonis deserved his full undivided attention.

"I see you have already put my crystal to good use." The Cyclonian leader said quietly, fixing Marrshal with a stare that likely would have killed a lesser man.

"Yes, well, I saw no reason to delay this any longer than necessary… Both the mission and what you wish to speak to me about." Marrshal said with a pleasant tone, quelling the dread that was building in the pit of his stomach. Past experience had shown him that Master Cyclonis disproved greatly of her subordinates attempting to circumvent her control.

"A quick deduction, proof of why I will simply discuss this matter with you first rather than punish you as I would Ravess and Snipe." Master Cyclonis said; her red irises flashing as she turned to board the destroyer. "But your plan is time sensitive; I will simply continue this discussion on board while we travel. Come now gentlemen, I want to hasten this along." She continued as she vanished into the darkness of the frigate's interior. The Dark Ace shrugged then followed her inside as the vessel's engines began warming up. Marrshal soon followed both inside, pausing for a moment at the entrance as the boarding ramp was withdrawn and the destroyer lifted off. As he looked out of the window, he could see the familiar central tower of Cyclonia begin to recede and; with a sigh, proceeded to make his way up to the bridge of the vessel. As he walked along the bridge hallway however, he noticed the Dark Ace standing guard outside a conference room door. Clearly Master Cyclonis wanted to take care of this matter quickly and quietly, which might be a good thing… unless she simply wanted to dispose of him quietly, despite her prior statements. With a suppressed sigh, Marrshal walked into the conference room to find Master Cyclonis at the far end of the room, gazing out the window at the clouds passing outside.

"It goes without saying why I am here." Marrshal said plainly as Master Cyclonis turned to face him.

"Of course… Merb. How interesting that you would keep this a secret from me, it raises concerns about your loyalties." Master Cyclonis pronounced ominously, her irises flashing.

"So now you know the truth… Still, you must still trust me to some degree; else you would have cancelled my plan along with myself. Might I inquire as to why?"

"If you were incapable of keeping secrets of such magnitude, you wouldn't be a very good spymaster now would you? Regardless of that fact however, I can understand your desire to hide your true identity, given the reputation your species has… I do find it interesting that you do not share the same zealous paranoia that grips most of them however." Master Cyclonis continued in a calm tone, putting Marrshal on alert. Normally she would be infuriated that one of her subordinates was concealing something from her, this sudden change in attitude was most uncharacteristic. It might have something to do with the other changes that she had exhibited lately.

"You would be correct Marrshal, normally I would be furious. But thanks to the abilities I have gained, I have a much broader view of the grand scheme of things. Your deception means very little overall and punishing you for it would simply complicate matters since I need you to be able to operate on your own, like the Dark Ace. You are not Ravess or Snipe, you have proven yourself capable and I will not waste your talents to satisfy my need for control. Besides, those unwilling to change their ways are doomed to fail, and thus I shall change my tactics as need be to accomplish my goals. However, I do expect that you will not keep important information from me." Master Cyclonis continued as she held up a crystal Marrshal recognized as a telepathic crystal.

"Thank you my lady, I appreciate your decision to be merciful." Marrshal said, trying to sound contrite.

"Just don't give me cause to rethink my decision. You are an excellent commander and I hate it when competent commanders show they are more lucky than skilled. Now then, we arrive at Terra Bogaton in a few hours and you have a part to play, so you had best be ready." Master Cyclonis stated sternly, her tone conveying the message that if Marrshal did disappoint her he would truly wish that she had punished him.

"Of course."


	17. Chapter 17

**Darkening Skies: Path of the Aerrow**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 2**

"I'm glad we left Finn and Junko behind for this part of the mission." Aerrow whispered to Piper as the pair crawled through a pipe in the interior of Repton's Citadel, headed for the Raptor leader's 'throne room.' Ahead of the two of them, Aerrow could see Starling nodding her head in silent agreement.

"No kidding, Finn definitely would have been complaining about the wonderful lining of this conduit… I think even I'd be afraid to find out the composition of this ooze." Piper whispered back, quietly wiping a gloved hand on the side of the tunnel and glaring at the odd brackish foam that quickly formed around the smear. That unique characteristic alone was enough to convince Piper to burn this outfit when they got back to the Condor. A quiet disgusted grunt from behind her told her that Aerrow had similar thoughts as well. In front of her, Starling suddenly held up a hand to indicate the need for quiet, meaning that there must have been a guard in the hallway near one of the vents in the conduit. Thankfully, the guard did not notice them and continued onward a moment later. Using the usual tactic of switching into bike mode just before reaching the edge of the terra cliffs and avoiding the motion sensors, the team had managed to prevent the Raptors from detecting them. Considering the effort that had gone into this infiltration, it would be a waste to accidentally blow it all by allowing one of these lackluster guards to find them. Especially considering how close they were to their goal.

A few minutes later, the team finally reached the throne room where Repton would shortly meet with his bosses, a supposition corroborated by the Cyclonian frigate they had spotted hovering over the terra as they raced through the underbrush outside. The other rooms in the citadel had been eliminated as options since Repton would always want to try and impress (or more likely intimidate) anyone who came to his terra. As they looked in through the grating, the trio could see and hear Repton ordering his Raptors about, preparing the best image possible. As they had agreed earlier, the three of them spread out, each taking a different vent so collectively they would be able to catch the entire conversation in theory. They did not have long to wait, as a few seconds later the Dark Ace walked in, flanked by several Talons.

"Repton." The Dark Ace said coldly in a business-like tone, "We have a task for you and your Raptors."

"How long do you intend to keep us under your thumb Dark Ace? We are not pets to be called upon to do your bidding whenever you desire, we are supposed to be your allies in this endeavor. Or has that changed?" Repton replied in a sarcastic manner.

"I think you misunderstand your place Repton. As Master Cyclonis has explained to you, if you help us then we don't crush your precious terra into dust. Now that we've settled that, we need you to attack Terra Neon to secure some very crucial supplies."

"NO! Enough of this, with every raid we launch for you, the more we earn the wrath of the Sky Knights! It's only a matter of time before they finally decide to take us out." Repton exploded in outrage.

"Calm yourself Repton, you will be receiving Cyclonian support for this assault and at that point I believe we will have little further use for you, only one more raid or so." The Dark Ace countered calmly although he did reach for his blade.

"Cyclonian support would only enhance the Sky Knight's desire to destroy us; I refuse to indulge in this foolishness! The Raptors will find other hunting grounds! Besides, you Cyclonians have given the conquest of Atmos two of your best shots, with the Aurora Stone and the raid on the main Atmosian mines and you failed both times. I doubt you have the power anymore to back up your claims." Repton groused as he leaned back in his throne. With a sudden fluid motion, one of the Talons accompanying the Dark Ace flashed forward and slid a knife under the lizard mans chin, threatening Repton with a rather unpleasant end.

"We really have made you a wonderful offer with plenty of opportunity for you to come out ahead; I suggest you exploit this opportunity… Especially considering how you do have your famously impenetrable air defense system." The Talon said, continuing the hold his blade at Repton's throat. "And after this raid, we only need you and your Raptors to carry out one last raid on the newest breadbasket of Free Atmos, Terra Vapos. Then you will be allowed to go on your merry way for a while. Does that meet with your approval?"

"Who are you?" Repton managed to grate out, obviously not wanting to be immediately forced into agreeing with the demands being made on him.

"He is one of our specially trained Talons, used to help resolve issues that certain people might have with our methods and requests. Now then Repton, do you agree to help us or would you like to know the true meaning of ignominious fate?" the Dark Ace said with a cruel smirk on his face.

"Given the circumstances I'm going to accept your generous terms." Repton said in a voice that was practically dripping with sarcasm. Once again the Cyclonians had forced him into doing exactly what they wanted him to do with no benefit other his continued survival. As he idly listened to the details of the raids on Terra Neon and Terra Vapos, Repton silently swore to himself that the Cyclonians would someday pay for their treatment of him and his Raptors. Someday soon they would regret the dishonorable actions they had perpetrated.

"Well, that was informative." Aerrow said as they flew back to where the Condor was hidden, having successfully escaped both Repton's Citadel and Terra Bogaton.

"It was pretty interesting to notice the interaction between Repton and the Cyclonians. I think that Repton is getting a little tired of being the lapdog of Cyclonia, the only question is, what good does that information do us? I sincerely doubt that Repton is ever going to want to side with us against Cyclonia." Piper said as she mentally reviewed everything they had learned over the course of the infiltration.

"We don't need to convince them to fight with us really, we just need to convince them to not fight against us; and by the sounds of it Repton is feeling like he's caught between a rock and a hard place. After we capture Repton, maybe we can convince him to stop helping Cyclonia, particularly if we can convince him that we won't attack him if he doesn't attack us." Aerrow said thoughtfully, "All we have to do now is convince some of the other Sky Knight Squadrons to help us and we'll have one less adversary to worry about."

"Should be easy enough, the mere mention of Cyclonian involvement should be enough to convince most Sky Knights of the need to support our endeavor." Starling said as she slowly throttled back on her skimmer; bringing it more into line with Aerrow and Piper's rides. "The only question remaining is what Sky Knight squadrons are close enough and still available."

"Don't worry about it Starling." Piper said cheerfully, "I have the escort duty rotations for all the local Sky Knight Squadrons in my room on the Condor. It should be easy enough to find available Sky Knights nearby."

"Good, because we only have a day or two at most before they hit Terra Neon. An added advantage would be to figure out exactly what they are going to be stealing. Piper and I will review what's been shipped on and off Terra Neon while we travel from terra to terra recruiting Sky Knights." Starling replied.

"Okay, once we find out what they're after we need to figure out why they want it then. Even if they miss this one opportunity to secure this object, the Cyclonians are not likely to give up so easily. We need to be prepared for whatever the Cyclonians are planning." Aerrow added as they neared the entry to the Condor's hanger bay.

Once onboard the carrier, the trio wasted no time in getting to the bridge of the vessel, Aerrow quickly telling Stork to set a course for Terra Neon. As they traveled, Piper and Starling pored over the available reports they had on shipments going to and from the terra. Since the trip to Neon from their previous position would take nearly a day, they had plenty of time to investigate anything that seemed out of the ordinary, although the amount of information they could obtain was somewhat limited. Nonetheless, they were able to find a rather significant shipment of fertilizer headed for Terra Vapos. The fact that the second Cyclonian raid was to take place on Terra Vapos lead them to conclude that this shipment would likely be targeted. Normally, the Cyclonians stealing such a shipment would not have been cause for great concern but Piper's relatively recent experience with Master Cyclonis's mind altering crystal lead her to conclude that the shipment would likely be infused with fragments of that crystal. This would give Master Cyclonis hundreds if not thousands of converts dedicated to her cause once the fertilizer was applied to the crops and the crystal integrating into the food itself. It was a subtle plan that was unlike the previous Cyclonian schemes they had foiled. The two were just about to present their conclusions when the Condor arrived at one of the terras near Terra Neon to recruit the Sky Knights stationed there. As the two followed Aerrow out to talk with the Sky Knights, Piper figured they could probably wait to present their findings.


	18. Chapter 18

**Darkening Skies: Path of the Aerrow**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 3**

Aerrow quietly stretched his back as he waited in the pre-morning darkness with the other Sky Knights they had managed to assemble for the defense of Terra Neon. The sentries that had been watching for the incoming raiders had reported the incoming Raptor/ Cyclonian fleet at a few kilometers out several minutes ago. According to their estimates, the fleet would be here shortly after dawn and already the eastern sky was streaked with the brilliant rays of light that heralded the coming sunrise. The presence of the Cyclonians had proved to be a strong rallying point for the other Sky Knights and there were nearly forty Knights waiting alongside him. Hopefully this force would be able to take on the Cyclonian frigate that that had been spotted along with the raiding party. Smaller and less powerful than the massive Cyclonian destroyers, the Cyclonian frigates were faster and their gunners were much more accurate, making them much better at taking down Sky Knight Squadrons. Not to mention that their shields ensured that they would have the durability to finish off any squadron they ran into. As the morning light illuminated the sky, Aerrow could see the stacked-dagger shape of the frigate gliding through the clouds toward where the line of Sky Knights waited. As it drew closer, Aerrow could just make out the shapes of the skimmers surrounding the frigate when a massive red bolt lanced forward, nearly demolishing one of the Sky Knights off to his right. Clearly one of the frigate's two sniper cannons was manned, which meant they had seen the defenders awhile back since the sniper cannons were useless in a normal dogfight. Shot after shot lanced out from the frigate as the sniper cannons provided cover fire for the rush of skimmers that surged toward the disintegrating Sky Knight line.

"Everyone! We can't sit here and wait for them to come to us! Charge!" Aerrow called out as the line continued to break down. With sudden twists of the throttle, many of the Sky Knights shot forward, quickly reaching the incoming Raptors and Talons, turning the skies into a mess of looping skimmers and flying energy blasts. As he shot down a Talon, Aerrow took note of the frigate, which continued to cruise toward the dogfight. If the frigate itself entered the dogfight, the Sky Knight's position would quickly become untenable and they would be forced to retreat back towards Terra Neon. However, just then, several energy blasts slashed against the frigate's shields as the carriers opened fire on the Cyclonian vessel. Since the frigate was geared more for destroying skimmers than taking on carriers, the vessel would have to keep its distance to prevent the higher yield shots of the carrier's cannons from overwhelming its shields. Maybe this fight would not be so desperate after all…

"This could be slightly irritating…" Altus/ Marrshal said as another blast shook the frigate around him, "We must actually enter the battleground itself if we are to get in range. Dark Ace now would be an excellent time to activate your special shield modifications."

"How in the bloody… How do you know about those modifications? Master Cyclonis was the only person who could possibly know as she installed it herself." The Dark Ace asked in an irritated and slightly confused tone, "Nevermind, you're the spy."

"Of course… Now then, those shields will allow us to survive a prolonged assault at close range from the carriers and we need to get in before the battle zone clears out too much. Please activate them now." Marrshal said in an appropriately polite tone. Considering that Master Cyclonis was just down the hall, it would not do to offend her favorite commander and Marrshal held no illusions about what would happen to him if the Dark Ace took an actual disliking to him. However, the Dark Ace obviously had common sense and quickly keyed in the code that would bring the enhanced shield crystals online. An intensifying hum that vibrated through the deck plates was indicative of the increased shield power that the ship was now generating.

"There you are, now let's get this over with, I hate being this close to a good fight and not being able to join it." The Dark Ace grumbled.

"Not to worry, it will all be over with soon enough… Oh look, there is Aerrow now." Altus/ Marrshal said as the frigate moved into the battle zone. "I am going to activate the crystal now, make sure to knock me out a couple seconds after the crystal activates." He continued as he pulled out the hourglass shaped crystal, "Of course you will get your own opportunity to use this later on."

"Of course, I look forward to the end of this wonderfully convoluted plot."

With a brilliant flash that accompanied the activation of the crystal, Marrshal found himself floating in a blue tinted spherical void. Next to him he could see the faint outline of the Dark Ace seemingly standing in mid-air. Around him faint Talons went about there business, like the Dark Ace they too seemed to be walking, standing or sitting on nothing. It made sense, this realm was strictly a realm of the mind, inanimate objects such as ships and skimmers simply did not seem to exist here. He quickly scanned the area, looking to find Aerrow before the Sky Knight moved out of range. A moment later he spotted the Sky Knight engaged in a dogfight with some poor Talon who clearly realized he was out of his league. Moving with the swiftness only a mental projection could have, Marrshal flew into the mental image of Aerrow.

"What the…?" Aerrow suddenly stammered as disorientation overwhelmed him. He quickly looked around trying to gain his bearings and quickly noticed that the Dark Ace was standing right next to him.

"Good night Aerrow." The Dark Ace said as he slammed Aerrow down into the floor and several Talons grabbed the Sky Knight. With a smirk on his face, the Dark Ace walked forward, pulling out a small vial that Aerrow recognized as Piper's sleeping crystal mist.

The Dark Ace turned back to assess the battle as the Talons dragged the unconscious form of Altus/ Aerrow off the bridge. It seemed that Marrshal's plan had worked perfectly, now all he had to do was stage an attack on Terra Vapos here in a few days and the plan would be complete.

"Signal all remaining Talons, it is time to pull back… and let's give the Sky Knights a little distraction… Shoot down Repton and his Raptors: show them how much their alliance with us truly means." The Dark Ace said as he examined the hourglass crystal he now held in his hand. Oh the Sky Knights would never know what hit them…

"We've won!" Piper called out in happiness as the Talons began to fall back to the frigate. Now came the most crucial part of the plan, since they had to shoot down and capture Repton and the other Raptors before they managed to escape. With a nod to the rest of the Storm Hawks, Piper raced forward toward where she had spotted Repton, followed closely by Starling and Junko while Finn held back to act as a sniper. Shortly afterward, Aerrow joined them, a happy smile on his face at their triumph.

"It was a bit dicey there for a little bit, wasn't it?" Aerrow asked rhetorically, "But we managed to save Terra Neon and fend off the Cyclonians, huh? Now we can finish our mission here."

"Agreed, let's get Repton before that snake manages to weasel out of our grasp."

"Right, there he is!" Aerrow said suddenly, pointing. "Finn, shoot him down!"

"Ten-four good buddy!" Finn shouted back as he took aim. However, before he even managed to get a shot off, fire lanced out of the frigate and connected squarely with the skimmers the Raptors were riding. Despite this shocking turn of events, the Storm Hawks responded quickly, diving in with capture cables to pick up their 'guests' and rapidly rounded up the Raptors before they reached the cloud layer that marked the boundary of the Wastelands.

Two hours later on Terra Neon…

""So what you're saying is that despite our success here, the Cyclonians already have a raid on Terra Vapos planned?" a Sky Knight from Terra Goben asked as Starling and Piper finished their presentation to the Sky Knights they had assembled.

"Yes, the simple fact of the matter is that the Cyclonians are desperate to put an end to us once and for all. They had originally planned to use supplies stolen from Neon to somehow destroy the crops on Vapos according to the plans we overheard." Piper answered, deciding to leave out their conclusion that the Cyclonians would use mind altering crystals to convert people onto loyalists. There was a limit to how much their fellow Sky Knights would accept and they could not afford to lose any support right now, especially since an attack on one of the breadbaskets of Free Atmos could mean the permanent end of any chance for throwing off the oppression of Cyclonia. "Once we have taken care of this, I'm guessing that the Cyclonians will back off on the raids a little since this has got to be wearing them down as much as it is us."

"Well, if that's the case, then by all means we should prepare to defend the terra from whatever plan the Cyclonians might have."

"Alright then, if there are no further questions…. I propose that we all head to Terra Vapos and prepare to defend that terra." Aerrow said, concluding the meeting.

"So Piper, do you really think that this raid on Terra Vapos will be the last major Cyclonian raid for awhile?" Aerrow asked Piper as the two walked back to the Condor with Radarr in tow. Piper looked back in concern as the small blue fuzz-ball growled ominously. Ever since the battle over Neon the mission specialist had been growling at Aerrow every so often… Almost like he had when Lark had come on board. Nonetheless, though Piper was concerned about it slightly, nothing could have happened over the course of a battle that should have changed Aerrow. Piper herself had been watching Aerrow for all but a few seconds, so there was no opportunity for anyone to replace Aerrow without her noticing, particularly since Aerrow would not have gone down without a fight.

"I honestly don't know Aerrow…" Piper sighed out at long last. "The fact is that Cyclonia has been changing their tactics so much over this past year that I'm not sure if they'll ever stop. I do think they will back off to reassess their strategy if we stop them here at Vapos and… What is the deal with you Radarr?" Piper interrupted herself as Radarr let out a particularly ugly growl. "You haven't acted like this since… Lark… was…" Piper asked, trying and failing to stop herself before she said voiced that connection.

"It's okay Piper, you can run me down with a blocker crystal when we get back to the Condor." Aerrow said in an understanding tone, "We need to be able to trust each other and I'll have a talk with Radarr later. Don't worry about it."

"Okay then if you're fine with it." Piper said as the pair arrived back at the Condor's boarding ramp, "It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that Radarr does sometimes know things that the rest of us don't."

"No worries, really." Aerrow/ Marrshal said in a soothing voice. He had little doubt that he would pass Piper's test since he technically was not using any crystals right now. As for Radarr, he would calm the little rodent later. It would be a simple matter of reassuring him that he was truly his 'master' and a little discussion would do that easily enough. Threats and captivity might work for Master Cyclonis and the other commanders, but sometimes a subtle approach was to be preferred.

Meanwhile, in Cyclonia…

Two dark figures approached the crystal machine in Master Cyclonis's chamber, their gait suggesting they were doing nothing more than taking a stroll in the park rather than infiltrating the inner sanctum of the leader of Cyclonia. The figure on the right was the tallest of the pair and was cloaked in a floor length black cloak with long loose sleeves that hide his arms and hands as his cloak hid his feet. A high collar covered the lower half of his face below his eyes while a blindfold covered his eyes, leaving his upper forehead as the only visible skin. He also wore a long scarf with a golden ring attached to each end. His skin and hair were deathly pale, almost ashen in their hue and he moved with a silent grace, his feet making no noise whatsoever as he made his way across the room.

The other figure with him was also shrouded in a dark cape the surrounded his body with a chest length over-cape adding to his outfit. As a clasp, the second figure wore a triangular metal badge containing a vortex inscribed inside an eye-like oval. On his head he wore a dark grey dome-like helmet with eye and mouth slits. Although nothing was visible inside the helmet, two eyes, one blue-green and the other red, glowed from inside the dark depths. Two smooth grey horns stuck straight backwards out the back of the helmet, slightly curved downward, looking more like straightened bull horns than anything else. Unlike his companion, who clearly was walking, this figure seemed to float along, his capes making only the faintest rustling sound as he moved. As they neared the crystal machine and the blue-white crystal held in place within it, the second figure drew his capes back, revealing a dark red robe tied with a wide black belt and a wide black band of cloth that hung vertically from his shoulders to near the bottom edge of his robe. On his forearms, he wore dark grey metal bands while his hands were protected by black leather-like gloves.

"Hold up a second Lord Astrel," the taller figure said as the figure to his left reached toward the blue white crystal, "I sense that Master Cyclonis has a wonderful little alarm system in place to prevent anyone from stealing her precious Aurora Stone."

"Well Lord Xivor, I suppose that your expertise as an assassin will be most helpful in disabling said trap." Astrel responded in an eerie, hollow voice as he dropped his hand back to his side, "To tell the truth though, after all the effort she put into reforging this thing I would be surprised if she had left it completely unguarded. Speaking of which, we have only a few seconds before the guards come in to check on this chamber."

"Not a problem really, although stealth is to be preferred as I have often told my unwitting student. I should really pay him a visit one of these days… not in the disguise I wore while I trained him of course, he need not know what truly happened to his master." Xivor said as two delicate looking instruments formed in his hands. With easy grace, he glided over to the machine and worked the mechanisms around a little, stepping back a moment later. "There we go, the alarm is disabled."

"Just a moment Xivor." Astrel said as four Talons walked into the chamber. The four carefully scanned the room, looking for anything that might be out of place. A few seconds later, Xivor watched the four leave, satisfied that nothing was amiss in the room. "So easy to fool…" Astrel said as he turned back to Xivor, "Now then, to the business at hand." With a simple gesture, the Aurora Stone flew into Astrel's outstretched hand.

"Don't forget what else we came here to do." Xivor reminded him as Astrel made to put the crystal away.

"Ah yes… how could I have forgotten?" Astrel replied as he held the crystal aloft. The crystal suddenly pulsed and flashed brilliantly, producing an orb of energy that disappeared with a gesture from Astrel. "There, the signal has been sent, the sleepers will awaken as soon as the signal finds them. It may take several days, but then again the Sky Knights have several days to spare still."

"All this just to undo the damage caused by one temporal entity…" Xivor commented as he walked over to Astrel.

"Indeed, or at least that is one of the Ageless Specter's goals here." Astrel responded, "Ready for transport?"

"Yes, let's get out of here." Xivor said as three halberdiers appeared in front of them and formed into a tetrahedron with the floor. The inside of the tetrahedron quickly dissolved away into a flat blackness which first Xivor, then Astrel walked through. After both had disappeared, the halberdiers also vanished and the portal dissipated, taking the Aurora Stone with them.

On board the Dark Ace's personal frigate…

"So good of you to rejoin us Aerrow." A feminine voice said at the edge of Aerrow's awareness. As he slowly reawakened to the conscious world, he found himself looking down at a body that was clearly not his own, at least not as he recalled. He tried to move his arms and legs, only to find that he was securely held in place somehow. He decided that his best course of action would be to simply wait for his eyes to focus on his surroundings.

"I realize you probably can't see me clearly yet, so I'll just keep talking and let you guess who I am." The voice continued, maddeningly familiar and yet Aerrow found it nearly impossible to organize his thoughts enough to identify the person speaking. "Well, regardless, you will doubtless find your current situation most interesting, seeing as you now find yourself in a body not your own and secured firmly in place to prevent you from moving. Your last memories before unconsciousness are of confronting the Dark Ace on the bridge of a Cyclonian vessel."

"Master Cyclonis!" Aerrow said suddenly, interrupting her monologue.

"Ah, finally, I was hoping you'd catch on quickly." Master Cyclonis said in a disturbingly cheery tone. "You'll be happy to know that we have a most wonderful plan in store for your friends, a plan which will culminate here in only a couple days over Terra Vapos. Don't worry though, you soon won't care much about what happens to your friends and I can guarantee that they will most definitely want to eliminate you."


	19. Chapter 19

**Darkening Skies: Path of the Aerrow**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 4**

Piper stood quietly on the balcony in front of the Condor's bridge, scanning the horizon for any sign of Cyclonian activity. After spending one night on Terra Neon, the Sky Knights had headed with all due speed to Terra Vapos to prepare the defenses of the terra, a process that had taken two days despite (or perhaps because of) the inspired leadership of the 'Great Domo Finn'. Piper rolled her eyes at that though and contemplated how nice it would be to leave this terra and hopefully never return. By all accounts, today was the day the Cyclonians would attack, terras in-between Neon and Vapos had confirmed the fleet's course as they quietly and quickly scrambled their own defenses just in case. So really it was only a matter of time, although the endless waiting did grate slightly on her nerves. Piper sighed and started to put down the binoculars when a dark shape on the horizon caught her attention. Focusing on the shape, she immediately identified it as the Cyclonian frigate that was leading the raiding parties.

"Stork! Contact the other Sky Knights, tell them the Cyclonians are here!" Piper yelled as she dashed back inside the Condor and headed down to the hanger bay without delay. As she arrived in the hanger, she found the other Storm Hawks already mounting their skimmers and gearing up for battle. They had discussed what would likely happen during this battle and everyone had come to the conclusion that the Cyclonians would probably stop at nothing to lay waste to Terra Vapos since their raid on Neon had been unsuccessful. This battle would probably be much more intense than their previous battle ironically enough.

"Looking forward to this fight guys?" Piper asked as she performed a few last minute checks on her ride.

"Oh yeah, can't wait." Finn said confidently

"Uh… I guess so." Junko stammered as he looked up from rigging several more missiles onto his ride.

"We're doomed." Stork added over the intercom.

"I'm always happy to perform my duties as a Sky Knight." Starling stated in a dignified manner.

"Indeed." Aerrow said with an odd smile on his face. For some reason, that odd little smile disturbed her, it seemed out of place. Nonetheless, Radarr did not seem to have any problem with Aerrow anymore and he was usually their first detector of problems. That or Junko… Then again, it was probably nothing, although Aerrow had been acting a little strange over the past few days. Nothing major, most of his behavior had remained unchanged but some of the little 'details' were off. Piper shrugged off her tension; she was probably just being jumpy since this battle could potentially result in the Cyclonians gaining thousands of new Talon converts if they failed to protect the terra.

A few minutes later, Piper followed the other Storm Hawks out of the hanger and into the clear skies surrounding Terra Vapos to find that the other Sky Knights were assembling as well. The Cyclonians as well were assembling, drawing up a battle line some few hundred meters distant from the Sky Knights. It was an odd stand off; it was almost as if the Talons were waiting for something to happen…

Aerrow/ Marrshal grinned in satisfaction to himself; the Dark Ace was following the plan to the letter. A quick count of the skimmers deployed on each side told him the fairly soon both forces would be completely assembled, but there was no need to wait for that to happen. Set in his decision, he turned to look back at Radarr.

"Ready for this little buddy?" he asked, getting an affirmative growl from the little furry thing in response. "Good, because I've got a wonderful surprise." Aerrow continued as he kicked Radarr off his skimmer in a sudden blur of motion. He dimly heard Piper yell to ask him what he was doing, but that was inconsequential now. Below him Radarr hissed in anger as he slowly floated down toward the Wastelands below, a thought that was somehow appealing to Marrshal.

"Fellow Sky Knights!" he announced as he pulled a small radio transmitter out of his uniform, "Our time has passed, and it is now time to submit to the will of Cyclonia!" As he made his pronouncement, Marrshal activated the transmitter, setting off dozens of small eruption crystal devices he had secreted in the engines of the carriers and skimmers assembled. Only the skimmers driven by the Storm Hawks and a few other Sky Knights were spared, namely because Marrshal had observed that they carefully checked their skimmers before use. Of course, the reason he had spared the Storm Hawks was to hopefully establish some sense of camaraderie with his former team, make them think that despite his betrayal he did not want to hurt his friends. If they believed as such, then so much the better, they would focus on trying to convince Aerrow to change his ways rather than focus on the true problem. It made no difference to him he concluded as he raced away from the Sky Knights toward the Cyclonian line. By his plan, this battle needed to be a total rout of the Sky Knights, a first victory in a long line of devastating defeats the Atmosians would suffer. This was why he needed to pass Aerrow's body off to the Dark Ace as soon as possible.

Piper reeled in shock as the detonations of several eruption crystals went off around her. Aerrow's unexpected announcement had caught her completely by surprise, she had been so stunned, she had not realized what most certainly had to be coming next. After all, what better way to show your loyalty to the Cyclonians than by eliminating the only thing standing in their way? Nonetheless, as she saw Aerrow streak off toward the Cyclonian lines, she turned her own throttle to maximum and shot off after him. There might be some chance to find out what was really going on, seeing as by her own memories of the conversations she had with Master Cyclonis as Dark Piper, Aerrow had never been implanted with the same mind-altering crystals that she had. That left a possibility that Aerrow might be doing this of his own free will, not a pleasant thought. She was so lost in her thoughts that she did not notice Aerrow turning back toward her until he had nearly reached her.

"Hello Piper, come to rejoin our side?" Aerrow asked pleasantly.

"Aerrow, don't do this…" Piper pleaded, "You're better than this, you've never been like Carver or Harrier, who were willing to bend their principals due to pride or the false promise of safety."

"You know, one of the highlights of this was raiding your room for the eruption crystals I used for the explosives. All that time we've spent together really helped me in finding the crystals without you knowing I had taken them." Aerrow said cruelly, "It really was enjoyable dashing all your hopes of victory, if you wait here just a few seconds, I'll be back with friends and we can burn you out of the sky." Without waiting to hear her reply, Aerrow took off once more, reaching the Cyclonians in a matter of seconds.

Marrshal stretched, trying to get a feel for how the Dark Ace's body worked. Outside, the Dark Ace was enjoying his devastation of the Sky Knight forces arrayed against them, particularly since they thought one of their own had turned against them. In only a few minutes, it was all over, not even the Storm Hawks stood a chance against Aerrow's raw skill matched with the Dark Ace's experience. With the terra's defenders defeated, the Talons then moved on to begin laying waste to the farmlands below. With the frigate adding in addition firepower, it would not be long before much of Terra Vapos was a blasted wasteland under Cyclonian control. Behind him, the doors to the bridge opened and Master Cyclonis walked onto the command deck, taking up a position next to Marrshal.

"It looks like everything has gone according to plan… As soon as the Dark Ace returns, I presume you would like to return to your own body?" Master Cyclonis said quietly, not wanting to let the Talons on the bridge know that their commander was really someone else.

"Yes, my lady, I tire of having to move someone else's body instead of my own." Marrshal responded respectfully, yet with enough of a biting undertone to underscore how irritating the situation was to him.

"Very good, I assume you know where your actual body is being held?"

"Deck 4, Section 7. The standard location for brigs on a vessel such as this."

"Impressive, and I thought I had taken all necessary precautions to prevent anyone from knowing that I was transporting anything aboard."

"It was difficult to obtain the information; it was only by chance that one of my agents spotted the shrouded container containing my true body." Marrshal said evenly. Although not entirely true, Marrshal decided a minor bending of the facts of the matter would be best in this case, "And since you have stated yourself that no one must find out who I am, storing him in the brig makes the most sense."

"Well then, I think that you have definitely proven your value as a Talon commander, you will not be punished for your earlier transgression. Looks as if our Talons have finished subjugating Terra Vapos and are on their way back, now the real show can begin…"

With a cry of pain and confusion, Aerrow jolted upright to find himself again in his own body and surrounded by Master Cyclonis, the Dark Ace and a strange hooded figure. Once again, he quickly figured out that he was secured as pain shot up from his wrists and ankles.

"Welcome back to your own body Aerrow, I can imagine that you're glad to be back." Master Cyclonis said coolly as she held up four crystals. Three spindle shaped crystals orbited around the fourth spherical crystal, all of them glowing a faint indigo color that Aerrow recognized as the same color as the crystal that had infected Piper earlier. "You think you recognize these crystals then Aerrow? Well, you're mostly right, the three smaller crystals are indeed of the same type that I used on Piper earlier, although now they are much more potent. However this fourth one, the spherical one, you will not recognize. It's a new crystal I've developed; I call it the Mesmeric Crystal. See, before the effects of my little alteration crystals wore off whenever the person woke up, but now… The Mesmeric Crystal will cause you to fall asleep forever, now the effects will not wear off and you will be on our side forever, just as soon as you fall asleep."

"I will not succumb to your tricks." Aerrow grated out defiantly.

"You say that now, but we'll see how you feel in a few minutes." Master Cyclonis boasted as she produced another greenish crystal. "Before, you were able to extract the psionic crystal because it was in Piper's hand; but now, with this phase crystal, I will implant these crystals directly into your brain and spinal cord. There will be no way to remove them without killing you. Now, it is time to join our side Aerrow!"

With her last pronouncement, Master Cyclonis activated the phase crystal, which enveloped the other four crystals in a green aura of energy and turned them transparent. Next, the small psionic crystals positioned themselves at the levels of Aerrow's head, chest and lower torso and shot forward into Aerrow, rapidly imbedding themselves in his spinal cord and brain. Then, the spherical crystal floated forward and slowly vanished into his forehead.

"There we go, now normally all we would have to do is wait, but I'm feeling impatient. Talons, fill the cell with sleeping gas, I want him converted now," Master Cyclonis demanded as she, the Dark and the third figure left the room. Soon afterward, Aerrow heard a quiet hissing sound and he felt his eyelids begin to grow heavy. Quickly realizing what was happening, his shook his head viciously to ward off the effects of the gas. Unfortunately, as soon as he stopped, he again felt his eyes grow weary. A few minutes later, the room around him began to lose focus and a strange feeling of vertigo overwhelmed him. As the room began to grow dim around him, Aerrow called out in rage and despair or at least he thought he did…

"Master Cyclonis, I am ready to serve." Aerrow said suddenly, as he jerked fully awake. He quickly thought back over what had happened to him and realized what a fool he had been, trying to fight off the Cyclonians. The fact that it had taken a mind altering crystal to make him realize this did not trouble him in the least; under any other circumstances, he would not have listened to Master Cyclonis's logical arguments, but now it all made perfect sense. Perhaps now he could see if he truly had feelings for Master Cyclonis…

"Release him." Master Cyclonis ordered as she entered the room with several Talons, "It is time for Aerrow to meet his fellow commanders. I assume you already know the Dark Ace, but this other commander you have not officially met."

"I have never seen him before." Aerrow confessed.

"His name is Marrshal, although you would know him a Shar."

"A pleasure to meet you for the first time Aerrow." Marrshal said as he extended his hand in greeting. Without hesitation, Aerrow shook the proffered hand and stood up.

"Indeed, it is an honor to meet someone who is so skilled in manipulating others to do what he wants… However, as pleasant this little social group is, can we please head for Cyclonia? I want to get rid of these remnants of my former deluded life as soon as possible."

"Of course, perfectly understandable. I'll have the helmsman set a course immediately."


	20. Chapter 20

**Darkening Skies: Path of the Aerrow**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 5**

'_Why Aerrow? Why did you betray us? Why did you betray me? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?' _Piper thought to herself over and over again as she slowly picked herself up off the ground and gazed at the smoldering fields that surrounded her. The last thing she could remember was Aerrow cutting the cords on her parachute, allowing her to free fall to the terra below. Only her emergency parachute packed by Stork had managed to save her from serious bodily harm, although she was pretty sure her left arm was broken. Around her she spotted the various parachute-shrouded forms of other fallen Sky Knights who had also had their parachute cords cut by Aerrow during his rampage. Combined with the low-hanging smoke that hung over the burning fields, the surrounding terra resembled a graveyard where the bodies laid in state rather than be buried. It was an analogy that sent shudders down her spine as she considered that it might be a reality rather than simply a metaphor. Thankfully enough though, she quickly noticed that many of the other Sky Knights were slowly coming to.

"P… Piper, is that you?" A raspy voice asked from behind her. Slowly turning around so as not to agitate her wounded arm, she found herself looking at a decidedly worse-for-wear Stork. A good amount of his hair had been incinerated by the blast that had taken down the Condor and there was a particularly nasty cut over his eye that had left a streak of blood down his face. At least one of his legs was broken, based on the way it was dragging behind him and there were several rips in his uniform that revealed cuts of varying depth.

"Stork? You survived?" Piper asked, stunned to see Stork in such a condition.

"By one definition of the word, yes, I survived." Stork moaned dismally, his old demeanor returning rapidly, "We should probably see who else is still around and alive…."

After several hours, the Sky Knights had managed to reassemble, in a manner of speaking, in the main village on Terra Vapos. There, the inhabitants had tended to their injuries and helped conduct search and rescue operations for the Sky Knights that were still missing. A few of the more technical minded inhabitants had begun salvage operations to recover the remains of the vehicles that had taken part in the battle. Unlike the rest of the terra, the village itself was virtually untouched. Unfortunately the same could not be said for the Sky Knights, the majority of whom had come out of the battle worse off than the Storm Hawks had. Although there had been no fatalities except for morale, it would be weeks before some of the other Sky Knights would be able to fly again, even with the help of healing enhancement crystals. Their injuries were just that severe. Among the Storm Hawks, Stork had suffered the most damage with two broken legs, several deep cuts and was still in a state of shock (or possibly denial) about what had happened to the Condor and what Aerrow had done. Finn was probably next in line for the most injured award, with his entire left forearm crushed during his fall and a broken foot. Piper and Starling both had suffered broken limbs and several cuts during the battle and Junko had a concussion paired with two sprained ankles and an over-extended wrist. Radarr was the only one who had seemed to come out of the fight without any injuries, except the mental shock of his friend's betrayal. To make matters worse, it would be several days before anyone would be able to leave the terra; not even a message could be sent thanks to the Cyclonians destroying the communications center on the terra, the fact that they were eating cooked carrier bird was sign enough of that. This was to say nothing of the decimated croplands and food shortage that hung over the terra like an ominous storm cloud.

Currently, the Sky Knights sat in circles amongst themselves, the various squadrons not really interacting with each other. The only exception was the occasional half-hearted glare cast in their direction, which made sense… after all, it was Aerrow who had done this to them. Even in their current condition however, the other Sky Knights did recognize that the rest of the Storm Hawks had no idea that their own leader would do something like this and the glares melted into sympathetic gazes after a minute or two at most. For their part, the other Storm Hawks around Piper simply kept their gaze locked on the ground in front of them, not daring to engage in the whispered conversations that many of the other groups indulged in. As much as she wanted to provide some solace to her friends though, Piper could think of nothing to say that would help. She truly hoped that they had not lost Aerrow forever; he could not possibly have gone over to the Cyclonians willingly, he loved being a Sky Knight too much to betray those principals. Hopefully he was not lost to them forever…

Terra Cyclonia…

Aerrow adjusted his matte black Talon uniform and the standard Talon armor that he wore over it. It was nearly time for him to be knighted as a Talon commander by Master Cyclonis herself and receive his new weapons to replace the pathetic weapons he had wielded as a Sky Knight. It would be nice to have peers who truly respected him and would seriously listen to his input, unlike the other Sky Knights he had formerly been associated with. Not to mention the vast numbers of Talons who would be under his command… why had no one told him that wielding authority could be so thrilling? A sudden knock at the door of his spacious quarters jarred him out of his private musings and he quickly walked over to answer the door. Upon opening the door, he found the spymaster Marrshal waiting on the other side.

"Greetings commander-select, it is time for your promotion, are you ready to proceed?" the hooded Talon commander said in a calm voice as he swept one arm back to allow Aerrow out into the corridor.

"Of course, I wouldn't miss this for the world." Aerrow said as he and Marrshal headed toward the throne room where the ceremony would take place. "The irony of course being that this promotion will essentially give me the world as Master Cyclonis wills it."

"Certainly, those commanders who are competent are allowed relatively free run of their affairs… I am certain that our master will reward you with a sizable territory for you to rule over as you wish." Marrshal replied in a conversational tone. Once again, Aerrow was reminded that this commander was the tricky one, what he said never quite matched up with how it should be said. He stated calmly things that most would whisper in conspiratorial tones and conversed idly on topics that many would find exciting. While his loyalty was above reproach and Aerrow was certain they would become good friends; Marrshal was likely one who enjoyed verbally sparring with his friends to improve their own skills in observation, disarming them with casual tones while he made crucial arguments that one might otherwise dismiss as idle speculation. Definitely one to watch in order to learn valuable lessons about the intricacies of rapid, detailed observation.

"If so, I shall do my best to not disappoint her expectations." Aerrow said after a minute of consideration. "It would appear we have arrived at our intended destination." He added a moment later as Marrshal halted outside the doors of the Grand Throne Room.

"Indeed we have… Well, I wish you the best of luck, I would attend publicly but I tend to stand out in a crowd." Marrshal concluded with a perverted little smile on his face that prompted Aerrow to roll his eyes. Likely the spymaster would be hidden somewhere among the crowds of Talons that were filling the hall and no one but himself, the Dark Ace and Master Cyclonis would be the wiser. With a quick bow, the spymaster departed and the doors before Aerrow slowly opened to reveal the crowded chamber beyond. With confidence, he calmly strode down the wide central aisle and ascended the grand staircase that lead up to the dais the throne sat upon. Around him, Talons filled the floor and tiered balconies of the chamber in neat lines, each line flanked by a Talon captain or lieutenant on either end. It was an impressive display, now all he had to do was raise the skill level and competency of these Talons and it would truly be awe-inspiring. That would come later though he concluded as he reached the dais and bowed before Master Cyclonis. Off to her right the Dark Ace looked on with a carefully controlled expression while off to her left Ravess and Snipe watched with barely controlled fury and outrage. Both evidently had enough sense at least to keep quiet during the ceremony, likely due to threats from Master Cyclonis herself.

"Do you, Aerrow, solemnly swear your loyalty to me and Cyclonia until death?" Master Cyclonis suddenly intoned as she called her staff to her.

"I do swear my loyalty to you and Cyclonia for the rest of my life, until death will I serve you. I vow to bring glory to you and to Cyclonia and do all I can to bring about the end of any who resist your will." Aerrow responded.

"Then I do hereby knight you as a Talon Commander, may our enemies tremble and fall before you." Master Cyclonis pronounced as she touched each of Aerrow's shoulders with her staff, formally marking him as a Talon Commander. "Rise Aerrow and claim your place as commander of the Talons."

"Thank you Master Cyclonis. I have but one request before I claim my blade."

"Name it and it shall be granted."

"I ask that from now on I be known as Night Aerrow, for I intend to plunge the hopes and dreams of the Sky Knights into darkness. For none can hope to stand in battle against the Dark Ace and myself."

"As you wish… Now Night Aerrow, you may claim your blades and take your place as a Talon Commander." Master Cyclonis said with an approving look on her face as a pair of energy swords powered by pure-grade firebolt crystals floated forward. Upon grabbing the twin blades, Aerrow ignited both and held the one in his right hand aloft.

"For the glory of Cyclonia and the end of the wretched Sky Knights!" he announced loudly as the Talons burst into cheering. Behind him, both Master Cyclonis and the Dark Ace grinned malevolently, enjoying the moment.


	21. Death of a Dream

**Darkening Skies: Death of a Dream**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 1**

Harrier gripped the throttle of his skimmer tightly in anticipation of the upcoming battle as he waited in the skies above Terra Gale. He and the other Rex Guardians had been hard pressed to make it here in time, and he had to wonder what had happened to the Rebel Ducks that they would have left their assigned post. Then he suddenly remembered: the Rebel Ducks had gone to help the Storm Hawks thwart a Cyclonian raid on Terra Neon and Terra Vapos. He paused a moment to idly wonder what had happened to that task force… From what he had heard the battle over Terra Neon had gone favorably, but he had yet to hear anything on how the battle at Vapos had gone, despite the fact that it should have occurred nearly two days ago now. Then again, it was just like those irresponsible Storm Hawks to neglect to inform others of the outcome of such an important battle. And to make matters worse, the Cyclonians had decided to capitalize on the absence of so many Sky Knights by attacking Terra Gale. Well, he and the other Sky Knights the Rex Guardians had managed to assemble would certainly be able to fend off any attack the Cyclonians had managed to scrounge together. Even though reports had confirmed the presence of two Cyclonian destroyers, Harrier was certain they would prevail, especially since massive defense cannons had been installed on the terra below.

Night Aerrow stood on the bridge of his personal Cyclonian destroyer, idly observing the Talons as they went about the business of running the vessel. Next to him, the Dark Ace also watched the Talons while at the same time examining the pure firebolt crystal he would be using in the battle to come over Terra Gale. Behind the pair, Marrshal busied himself with some last minute data collection, working to ensure that the two commanders had the most accurate information on the Sky Knight force assembled against them. According to the latest report Marrshal had given him, the Rex Guardians had arrived at Terra Gale and ordered the construction of defense emplacements containing heavy energy cannons at various locations throughout the terra to augment the offensive capabilities of the defense force. The fools clearly thought that merely taking out the destroyers would break the backbone of the Cyclonian assault. Too bad the plan called for the destroyers to hang back while the Talons laid waste to the defenses, something which the Talons were at least capable of doing to some degree.

"It would seem that the Sky Knight defenders have deployed in a standard Rex Guardian Eagle Wing formation, a typical formation of defense that allows for intense focused bombardment of targets while protecting the siege cannons from immediate attack. Considering they expect us to deploy the destroyers into combat at the onset, this is the perfect formation to deploy in and would likely be successful in taking down one of our destroyers before we were able to break through." Marrshal observed as he walked up to the two commanders, "I believe that they have completed their preparations for our arrival. It should be most intriguing to see how they respond to our change in tactics."

"I'll be sure to read your observations later." The Dark Ace added, "How long until we should deploy the Talons?"

"About five minutes or so, give or take."

"I that case I think we had best head down to the hanger and thoroughly check over our rides, make sure they're in peak condition for this inaugural fight." Aerrow said with a smirk on his face.

"Harrier sir! We've spotted them at three o'clock!" a fellow Rex Guardian yelled as he pointed toward the ominous shape of a Cyclonian destroyer emerging from the cloud banks off to Harrier's left. Already he could see the dots that represented Talon skimmers flying in formation around the destroyer. Despite the sheer number of Talons arrayed against them, it looked like the Cyclonians were walking right into the trap they had laid, a fact which gave Harrier reason enough to smile slightly. As the Talons drew closer however, he suddenly realized that the destroyers had halted their advance, which could only mean that the Cyclonians planned on taking out the defense cannons before they proceeded any further with their attack.

"All Sky Knights, charge!" Harrier called out as he ignited his sword and swung toward the advancing Talons. As they advanced however, Harrier was suddenly brought up short by the figure who was leading the attacking force.

"Hello Harrier." Night Aerrow said, pointing a red energy short sword at the leader of the Rex Guardians.

"Aerrow! What do you think you're doing?" Harrier asked in sudden confusion. From what he knew of the Storm Hawk's leader, he was quite dedicated to the ideals of the Sky Knights.

"Not too quick on the pick up are we Harrier? No matter, I'll strike you down all the same." Night Aerrow replied mockingly, "After all, the Dark Ace and I have a deal, one point for each Sky Knight we beat and a bonus point if we cut their chute cords. I'll be happy to claim you as my first victim."

"Monster! How dare you betray Atmosia, I shall strike you down where you stand!" Harrier shot back, refusing to be intimidated by his opponent.

"Ironic words coming from a Rex Guardian…" Night Aerrow observed; the volume of his voice fading as he suddenly attacked by jumping onto Harrier's skimmer. Caught off guard, Harrier managed to bring his sword up just in time to parry the blow, only to have the lower half of his chest armor sliced off as Aerrow brought his other blade around to strike.

"You're slow Harrier, you should have retired years ago, allow me to correct your mistake." Aerrow taunted as he battered Harrier's guard aside with the blade that had cut through Harrier's armor. Now undefended against attack, Harrier tried to dodge backward, only to cry out in pain as Aerrow sank his other blade through his shoulder. Wounded but not out, Harrier swung back upward, hoping to slash his opponent across the chest. Aerrow saw the blow coming however and easily stepped back out of the way and smacked the blade along its current trajectory before striking Harrier's wrist with the hilt of his blade. The added momentum combined with the strike on his wrist caused Harrier to lose his grip on his sword and he watched in horror as it tumbled away into the Wastelands below.

"This is your stop." Aerrow added malevolently as he blasted Harrier off the back of his skimmer with the Lightning Claw. Harrier immediately pulled his chute cord, deploying the chute before he lost consciousness. As he floated down Aerrow leaped back onto this own sky ride and shot forward, cleanly slicing through the straps connecting Harrier to his parachute before racing off to engage his next target. Fortunately for Harrier however, another Sky Knight had witnessed his fall and quickly raced over, catching Harrier on the rear of his skimmer before racing down to drop the downed Knight off on the terra itself.

After nearly an hour of battle, Night Aerrow calmly flew his skimmer in the Talon-controlled skies of the newly re-conquered Terra Gale, making his way over to the Dark Ace. He quickly spotted his fellow commander cruising along near the edge of the terra, clearly looking for any Sky Knights who might be hiding under the overhang. He quickly dove down and came up alongside the Dark Ace.

"So how'd you score Dark Ace?" he asked in a friendly tone as he kept pace with the other commander's flight.

"My score was sixty seven, how about you?" the Dark Ace said amicably.

"Only sixty five, I had one coward who ran away before I got the chance to engage him." Night Aerrow replied in an equally friendly tone although tinged with irritation at the cowardly Sky Knight who had cost him the chance to tie or surpass the Dark Ace's score.

"Don't worry about it Night Aerrow, you did well for your first fight against Sky Knights, I'll have to really kick it into high gear if I want to match you." The other commander commented in a friendly tone as the two finished their circuit of the terra. A sudden growing noise alerted Aerrow that one of the Talons was approaching and he looked up to find that he was indeed correct, one of the Talon captains in charge of subjugating the Terra was cruising down to talk to them.

"Pardon me sirs, but we're having a bit of trouble subjugating one of the sub-peaks of the terra, the residents appear quite determined to keep us off their portion of the terra." The Talon captain said apologetically. At his comment, both of the commanders rolled their eyes.

"I'm pretty sure I know who we're dealing with." The Dark Ace said in an exasperated tone.

"The so-called 'Resistance of Terra Gale,' a.k.a Wren and his daughter Dove." Night Aerrow answered in a tired tone, "Don't worry, I think I can handle this without too much trouble." With a shrugged 'as you wish' from the Dark Ace, Aerrow took off, heading straight for where he knew Wren's little holdout was. As could be expected, as soon as he neared the terra, various utilitarian items began flying toward him, guided by the power of a wind crystal to the intended target. The projectiles were easy enough to dodge, and the perfect plan came to Night Aerrow's mind as he neared the sub-terra.

"Wren, it's me, Aerrow!" he called out as he landed on the seemingly deserted landmass, "Come out please."

"Aerrow, of zee Storm Chickens?" the quirky little man said as he popped out of a small cauldron sitting near a tree, "What are you doing here with zee Cyclonian slime?"

"I'm undercover, working to find out what the Cyclonians are up to with these recent raids. I'm sorry about your terra being conquered, but it was necessary to earn the Cyclonians' trust."

"Ah, say no more, I understand." Wren said, "I was quite zee undercover agent back in za day."

"Good, great, hurry up then, we need to get you and your daughter out of here. I know Terra Gale is your home, but if you don't leave the Cyclonians are going to bring in more forces to crush you. Besides, you can plan the liberation of Terra Gale from a more secure location." Aerrow said earnestly, trying to urge the eccentric along.

"Very well, we will go." Wren said with a sad sigh, "Dove, come out my darling, we need to go with the nice young man."

"Okay papa." Dove said as she emerged from her hiding place among a pile of 'ammo' and walked toward where Aerrow and Wren were standing.

"Thank you both of you," Night Aerrow said as he suddenly blasted Dove then Wren with energy bolts, knocking both into unconsciousness, "You've made this job so much easier."

"Cyclonian dogs, I will have vengeance!" Wren screamed in rage as he was hauled off the bridge of destroyer after his little meeting with Night Aerrow.

"That was quite cruel of you to torment that man so…" Master Cyclonis said as she sat down in a throne that had been brought in for her, "Although it was amusing to hear his impotent threats against you."

"Indeed, it was amusing to finally put that little imp in his place." Night Aerrow agreed as he stood to the left of Master Cyclonis, "I especially liked his tirade about how he would personally see to it that I was sent to the Wastelands, a promise he can never hope to fulfill." Night Aerrow continued as Master Cyclonis chuckled evilly.

"You know what I think would be an excellent idea?" Master Cyclonis said suddenly, a wicked smile playing on her lips, "I think we should use that annoying little man as a hood ornament for our destroyer… Talon, get some clamps and secure our new figurehead to the bow."

"Yes Master Cyclonis, in the meantime, would you like the other prisoners brought in?"

"Yes, yes I would." Master Cyclonis confirmed as the Talon rushed off to do her bidding. A few minutes later, a large squad of Talons led in several captured Sky Knights, many of them from the Rex Guardians. The captives, for their part, simply glared at Night Aerrow, the Dark Ace and Master Cyclonis with hatred.

"Attention those who still resist my rule," Master Cyclonis announced as she stood to face the Sky Knight assembled in front of her. "I have been patient and allowed you time to accept the inevitability of my victory, but I do not possess infinite patience and I am tired of your continued efforts to stop me."

"We will never submit to you!" one of the prisoners interrupted.

"Never is not as long as it used to be." Master Cyclonis said as she indicated Night Aerrow, "Already one of your best has seen the light and joined us, but you will not have that same opportunity. Instead, you shall all serve as an example to the others." With that final statement, blue energy enveloped Master Cyclonis's arms as little sparkling splinters of crystals began to fall from the air around her arms. Before any of the captives could respond, the blue energy pulsed over then, instantly trapping them in diamond-like crystal and placing them into a state of stasis. "There we are, take these statues to Cyclonia and place them in my throne room and make sure you keep leech crystals away from them, or I'll have your heads for freeing a Sky Knight in Cyclonia."

The Talons who had escorted the prisoners in bowed obediently and quickly departed with the statues in tow. Once the last of the statues had been taken off the bridge, Master Cyclonis turned back to face the three commanders still on the bridge.

"Now then, that was a wonderful show, where shall we stage an encore performance?" she asked with a playful note to her voice.

"While we could head directly to Terra Atmosia and bring a quick end to this, perhaps playing with the Sky Knights a little would be a wonderful way to demoralize them and make our later conquests that much easier." Marrshal commented as he looked through a book containing brief descriptions of the various known terras of Atmos. "Ah look, the Great Atmos Race on Saharr is here in two days, doubtless some of the Sky Knights from more secure terras will be there testing their rides out in preparation for the contest. It would be the perfect opportunity to weaken later resistance as well as stretch the remaining forces they can deploy against us further."

"Excellent… helmsman, set course for Terra Saharr."


	22. Chapter 22

**Darkening Skies: Death of a Dream**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 2**

With a sudden roar, the Condor's engines once again awakened, lifting the vessel off the hillside it had crashed on after Aerrow's 'farewell gift' had destroyed the systems that kept the ship in the air. After nearly three days of constant work, they had managed to repair the Condor and this act had somehow restored Stork to normal, which made sense considering the bond he shared with his ship. Of course, there were still wounds that went deeper than could be healed by his love of the Condor, namely the emotional wound caused by their friend's betrayal. Piper had gone over the events of the past few weeks time and again, looking for some sign that something in Aerrow had changed. And time and again she came up with nothing; Aerrow had not changed except in the last couple days leading up to his betrayal… Ever since their victory at Terra Neon Aerrow had been slightly different, could that victory somehow have convinced him of the need to join Cyclonia? If so, why had he chosen then to betray them? Nothing about the entire incident made sense, but then again betrayals rarely made sense.

"So Piper, with Aerrow gone, what do we do now?" Finn asked, his usual hyperactive demeanor dimmed by recent events. His question hung in the air answered as Piper slowly looked around the table at each of the assembled Storm Hawks and Starling. It was an excellent question, what should they do now? Almost immediately Piper wanted to say they should go after Aerrow and save him, but that was overly emotional… Even though something had begun to develop the two of them, Piper's first duty as a member of a Sky Knight squadron had to be Atmosia, no matter how much it might hurt. However, in an actual battle, Aerrow would undoubtedly defeat them; even Starling was no longer a match for him now that Aerrow was a fairly seasoned warrior. This really only left one logical course of action, they needed to warn Atmosia of Aerrow's betrayal and work with the other Sky Knights to salvage the situation before it became untenable.

"Piper, are you okay?" Starling asked in concern as Stork murmured something about Moldavian Brain Paralysis. Jolted out of her reverie, Piper looked once more at the team around her before answering:

"We must warn Atmosia of what has transpired and let them know we are still alive. As much as I hate to say it, if Aerrow has truly betrayed us then the Sky Knights must put an end to him."

"Piper you really don't think that…?" Junko started to ask, only to be interrupted by Starling.

"Right know it doesn't matter what she thinks, we have a duty to protect Atmosia and we must follow through no matter how much we wish it otherwise. People's lives are hanging in the balance, we cannot fail them." Starling explained in a firm yet consoling voice.

"Okay, we can understand that, but does anyone here really think Aerrow betrayed us?" Finn asked in an almost pleading tone.

"No," Starling answered immediately, "Aerrow was the most dedicated Sky Knight I've ever known in addition to being the best. Add in these new crystals the witch has been throwing around like they're going out of style and I'd say it's more likely that Aerrow has somehow been infected with the same type of crystal that was used on Piper."

"So will we try and rescue him then? And what are we going to tell the Council? I doubt they will accept that Aerrow is being controlled, no known crystal has that kind of power." Piper asked, curious as to how Starling intended to proceed.

"We will not abandon him… I'm not sure how, but we will save him from the grip of Cyclonis. As for what we will tell the Council, the best we could do is tell them he is possibly under duress, but his actions would quickly disprove that theory. Thus, we can tell them what we believe to be the truth and have them doubt us or we can simply tell them that Aerrow is currently on the side of the Cyclonians." Starling explained, a note of hesitation in her voice, "In this case, to not confront them with the possibly of Aerrow being controlled is to condemn him. I believe we should tell them what we believe has happened, even if we are not quite sure how it transpired."

"Right then, let's get this over with then." Piper said with finality, "Stork, set a course for Terra Atmosia."

"And therefore, as unfortunate as it is, we must assume that no one in the Terra Vapos task force survived Aerrow's betrayal given the lack of communication from the terra. I think it is therefore in the best interests of Atmosia that we do all we can to increase our numbers in order to fend off the inevitable invasion." Harrier explained to an attentive Sky Knight Council, "We must also find some way of quickly eliminating the threat presented by the Dark Ace and Aerrow. As loathe as I am to admit it, without my squadron I stand no chance against the two of them." At this statement, many members of the Council nodded in agreement, they knew that even under normal conditions Harrier could not beat the Dark Ace, so why would he be able to now that his squadron was gone? Aside from a couple trainee Sky Knights, the entirety of the Rex Guardians squad, minus Harrier, had vanished in the skies over Terra Gale.

"Do you have any recommendations as to how this might be accomplished Harrier?" the Council elder asked as he wrote several notes in his log book.

"I am unsure, except for sending in an agent to conduct a covert strike against the two of them, I can think of no way to eliminate the threat they present." Harrier replied in an uncertain tone, "But such a tactic is without honor and eve if it were not, the best infiltration person we have that I know of perished in the battle over Vapos."

"Let's not assume the worst quite yet, we have dispatched several vessels to Terra Vapos in the hopes of finding out what happened there. However, since the Cyclonians have begun a major offensive in that general area, it may be some time before we are able to make contact. In the meantime, we will dispatch a Sky Knight from the Shadowed Peak squadron; they may not be quite as skilled as Starling, but they should be able to accomplish this task."

"I have never heard of this Shadowed Peak squadron, who are they and what terra are they from?" Harrier asked in confusion.

"They are a Merb Sky Knight squadron from one of their colony terras… we think, they are pretty secretive about these things." The elder answered hesitantly, uncertain how much of this he should be telling Harrier. "Regardless, as regrettable as it is, we will make arrangements to remove the threat presented by Aerrow and the Dark Ace. Do you have anything else to report?"

"No sirs."

"Very well then, you may go."

"Worthless fool." Night Aerrow said as he tossed Blister onto the deck of the destroyer's bridge, "You should have known better than to try and escape your fate, Master Cyclonis will not be deprived of her prizes."

"Scum!" Blister shot back loudly as he glared up at the fallen Sky Knight, "To think I even would have…" The Third Degree Burner started to say before a sharp kick from the Dark Ace silenced him.

"Now, now, it's not a good idea to insult your betters…" Master Cyclonis said, having had enough of the little drama. "It is time to complete my collection of the Third Degree Burners; with you I'll have the full set." She continued as she raised her hands toward the Sky Knight. A few seconds later it was all over and the Talons dragged the crystallized Sky Knight back toward the alcoves that held about three dozen Sky Knights in similar condition. With her fun taken care of, Master Cyclonis sat back down in the throne that still sat on the bridge and called Marrshal to her.

"How may I help you my lady?" the spymaster said as he walked up to her and bowed, putting a notepad and writing quill in some hidden pocket on his robe as he did so.

"I want you to compile a list of terras that we should strike and in what order with what size of force." Cyclonis stated simply

"It shall be done immediately."

"Good, after that I want you to do some investigating into what is happening with the Murk Raiders… They've recently grown bolder in their attacks and I want to know why and how." She continued as she looked through a concise report of recent happenings in the Cyclonian Empire, "I want you to see to this personally."

"Of course my lady," Marrshal said in an even tone. Doubtless this was minor punishment for his earlier transgression, being sent to what effectively amounted to the hind end of the Atmos was something Marrshal preferred to avoid at all costs; namely because it was only with regards to Murk Raiders that he still found himself subject to the paranoia or fear that plagued most other Merbs. This was mostly because he had not thought of a useful way to channel that paranoia into practical projects, likely because one rarely encountered Murk Raiders in the civilized areas of the world. Well, he would have to make the best of this situation, especially since to disobey Master Cyclonis over something as trivial as fear would certainly doom him. With another quick bow, Marrshal left the bridge to compile his list of recommendations.

He quickly made his way to his quarters on the frigate, where he had his various notes stored in an abridged shorthand form. He realized he was being followed, but it was only Night Aerrow, so this was probably an innocuous pursuit. To be polite, he left the door to his room open so Night Aerrow could talk to him without entering his personal sanctum.

"You wanted to ask me something?" Marrshal asked without turning around as he sorted through various stacks of notes on the terras of Free Atmos. To his private enjoyment, he heard a surprised chuckle from Night Aerrow in response to his inquiry.

"I should have known that you would anticipate what I was following you for." The dark Sky Knight said, "As it so happens, I do indeed have a question for you, pertaining to you heritage."

"Ah yes, so you know that I am a Merb then, not surprising considering that my lady and your peer trust you implicitly. Very well, some slight background is called for." Marrshal responded. Not to mention that some friendly familiarity between commanders would enhance the ease of the working environment and promote trust. If he was to trust anyone besides Master Cyclonis, the Dark Ace and Night Aerrow would be the best candidates. To say nothing of the fact that Master Cyclonis herself would likely demand to know more information if he refused Night Aerrow's request. Again fate had conspired against him, forcing him to remove some of the shroud of secrecy that he so loved to hide himself behind. "There is not much to tell really, unlike most Merbs I have found a more positive outlet for my paranoia and in doing so have managed to live a somewhat normal life. I have no family anymore, and those I do technically still possess believe me dead."

"That's very… vague and mysterious."

"It is who I am," Marrshal said with a shrug, "Ah look, here is the report I was looking for, I best get this to our master before she grows impatient."

"Excellent work Marrshal, I see you have been preparing this report for some time… According to this we should head for Terra Tropica next, might I ask the specific reason why you recommend such a move?" Master Cyclonis said as she flipped through the report Marrshal had handed her.

"Terra Tropica is fairly close to Terra Gale and Terra Neon as well as several other important terras in Free Atmos. Not to mention to fact that the loss of the so called 'Vacation Terra' will wound Atmosian morale. More important though is the fact that a large assault on Terra Tropica will distract them from our true objective, the preparations for the assault that will strike down the home of the Sky Knights before we move on to the assault that will herald the ascendancy of Cyclonia."

"An attack on Terra Rex leading to an attack on Atmosia? I have the perfect weapon for that assault; it just needs a few more days until it is completed. Will your plan tolerate such a delay?"

"My lady, it can tolerate whatever you wish it to."

"Very well, then we shall return to Cyclonia to prepare for the end. And you will be glad to know that I have changed my mind, your mission to Terra Deep can wait, and I want you to be present for the attack on Atmosia and on Terra Rex. Both terras have information I want, and you are the only one I can trust to secure all the information I desire."

"Thank you my lady." Marrshal said as the helmsman set a course to Cyclonia

Meanwhile, an unknown terra…

Violent winds whipped around the tall spires of this long forgotten terra as lightning streaked across the dark cloud-filled skies. A massive basalt rim that surrounded the terra shielded the buildings that covered the crater floor from the fountains of molten rock that occasionally erupted up from the Wastelands only a few hundred feet below. Amidst the swirling clouds however, a small orb of blue-white light appeared, quickly making its way toward the tallest beacon spire where a golden prism glowed dimly as it rotated in an unusual apparatus. As the orb merged with the prism, both flashed brilliantly, causing the light of the golden prism to be rekindled. Now recharged, the prism shot a golden beam of energy down into the depths of the tower, where a pyramid-like crystal diffracted the energy into several smaller beams that exited the spire through several portals into a circular structure which surrounded the tower. There it was further diffracted and connected with de-powered blocker crystals located on top of tubes that lined the far inner wall of the circular structure. As the blocker crystals recharged, they activated and blocked the power of the stasis crystals located just inside the tubes; waking the occupants of the tubes from their decades of long slumber.

Each tube slowly opened to reveal a figure wearing a heavy dark grey hooded cloak holding a sword in front of them. The blade of each of the swords extended from the lower chest of the figure to their feet, with the hilt and handle reaching to just below the throat. Embedded in the hilt of each sword was a large pale yellow crystal with a starburst pattern in the crystal. A short while after their stasis tubes opened, the figure inside stepped out and walked toward a central assembly hall where a similarly dressed figure stood waiting for them. This figure, distinguished from the others only by the red lining of his cloak, had been the first to awaken from his sleep.

"Greetings my brothers, it has been a long time since we have last assembled and this can mean only one thing: the prophesy of the Dark Oracle has come to pass. Though long ago we were forced into hiding, we must now come to the aid of those that remain and save the hope of Atmos from the darkness that has consumed it." The figure in the red lined cloak announced, "Now Ancients, let us rise once more to fulfill our oaths as we were prevented from doing so long ago!"

"For the future of Atmos!" the other figures called in reply as they quickly filed out of the hall, heading for the long-abandoned hangers where their skimmers had long ago been securely stored. Twenty minutes later, forty skimmers and a carrier launched from the hangers and set their course for Atmosia.


	23. Chapter 23

**Darkening Skies: Death of a Dream**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 3**

Piper gazed out over the peaceful clouds that surrounded Atmosia, wishing her own inner turmoil could be as quiet and serene. The Storm Hawks had arrived at Atmosia and gone to talk to the Council, only to find out that the Council already knew what had happened thanks to a report from Harrier. The news had not been encouraging, Aerrow and the Dark Ace had launched a merciless attack on Terra Gale, only Harrier and one other Sky Knight had managed to escape, the rest of the Sky Knights and the inhabitants of the terra had not been so lucky. It was hard to believe that the Aerrow she knew could be capable of such ruthless behavior. There had been no denying the reports however, and as she listened Piper had felt as though an icy dagger had plunged into her heart. From what she was given to understand, the Council had already seen to it that Aerrow would never again present a threat to Atmosia; the Council had rejected their explanation of Aerrow's betrayal as far-fetched at best. So that was that, Aerrow would likely be deceased before they could ever reach him, unless the assassination failed. In frustration, Piper kicked a stone off the edge of the terra and watched it fall into the clouds below. There had to be something they could do for Aerrow while still doing their duties as Sky Knights, the only question was really where to draw the line.

As she contemplated this conundrum, a sudden noise broke the silence and Piper quickly scanned the skies for the source of the noise. A sudden shadow fell over her and she looked up to see a massive dark shape descending toward the terra, surrounded by several smaller dark shapes. Her first instinct told her that the Cyclonians were attacking, but she quickly realized that was not the case; the descending ship had the wrong shape and had not yet attacked, both facts strong indicators that whoever this was, they were peaceful. A moment later, her conclusions were confirmed as several cloaked figures with swords strapped to their backs dropped down from the sky and walked toward her.

"Greetings Sky Knight, we are the Ancients and we have come to help you."

"The Ancients? Hmm… let me see…" the Council elder said as he looked through his registry book, "No, I have no record of any Ancients squadron in any of these books. Are you certain you are an official squadron?"

"We would not be in your records; our squadron was formed before the institution of your bureaucracy. However, if you need proof of our Knighthood, any one of us would be willing to show you our Sky Knight Move." The leader of the Ancients said as he tapped his sword on the floor lightly. It was not meant to be a threat, merely a sign of impatience.

"I for one am skeptical." Harrier said in a disproving tone as he stood off to one side, listening to the conversation, "They just appear out of nowhere claiming to be here to help us, for all we know they could be Cyclonians."

"Silence Rex Guardian, I did not ask for your opinion, nor will I ever do so. My people and I did not awaken from our thousand year slumber to be insulted by you. Either accept us as Sky Knights or ask for proof, regardless we will help you because it is the right thing to do."

"Very well, we're glad for whatever help you can provide, although we do ask for some proof that you are actually Sky Knights."

"Very well, follow me." The leader said as he walked outside. Once the Council, Ancients and Storm Hawks were reassembled outside, the Ancient leader paced some distance away and drew his sword while the other Ancients with him formed a circle around him. The spectators stood back, curious as to what the Ancients were planning with this unusual formation. As the last Ancient took his position, their leader activated his pale gold blade and swung it over his head, a brilliant white aura surrounding the blade as he did so. An instant later and the aura exploded into blinding blades of light that shot outward from the blade. Instantly the other ancients leapt into action, quickly intercepting each lance with their own blades before it left their protective circle. As the smoke cleared, it revealed large gouges in the ground where the luminescent blades had burrowed into the soil and disintegrated it. Piper looked on in amazement, it was an impressively powerful Sky Knight Move; however, what the man did next surprised her even more. With an elegance that attested to years of swordsmanship, the leader of the Ancients rapidly spun his blade around himself, leaving wisps of golden energy in its wake. He then stabbed his blade into the ground, instantly causing an energy shield to coalesce from the energy mist around him. In turn, each of the other Ancients ignited their own pale gold blades and leapt at the man in the center, each viciously striking the shield before backing off to let one of his fellows in. After each had attacked in turn, their leader allowed the shield to drop and approached the assembled Council.

"Have I proven our status as Sky Knights, or do you wish me to display another Sky Knight Move?" the leader asked seriously, without a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"No thank you; that is quite sufficient, we will register you in the records as the Ancients, how large is your Squadron and what are your positions?" the Council elder asked as his book was brought to him.

"All told there are sixty of us; I am Vespos, Sky Knight and leader." The man who had displayed his Sky Knight Moves said.

"I am Mirs, Sky Knight, carrier captain and second-in-command." Another hooded figure said as he stepped forward.

"I am Keas, Sky Knight and master tactician." A third figure said as she walked forward.

"Wait a minute, are all of you full fledged Sky Knights?" the elder asked in sudden confusion as he stopped writing.

"With Sky Knight Moves and everything." The leader replied proudly. At his announcement, Starling whistled softly, a previously unknown force of sixty Sky Knights suddenly showing up was awfully convenient.

"You'll have to forgive me for being skeptical, but where have all of you been and why do you show up now of all times?" Starling asked, suspicion tingeing her voice.

"As I said before, we have been asleep these many years, in hiding and waiting for the time when we must stand against the prophesy of the Dark Oracle. When the Aurora Stone was plunged into the eternal darkness, it cried out one last time. Our Dawn Prism captured this cry and awakened us from our sleep." Vespos replied simply.

"The Aurora Stone? You must be mistaken, the Aurora Stone was destroyed three years ago." The elder said, casting a glance at Piper and the other Storm Hawks as he spoke.

"I regret to inform you then that it is you who is mistaken, no more than a week ago, the Aurora Stone cried to us as it was plunged into the infinite darkness. Your Master Cyclonis must have re-forged it in order to use its power." The Ancient stated simply, this sudden revelation setting off a wave of concerned whispering among the gathered crowd. Piper knew why, if Master Cyclonis could re-create the Aurora Stone, then she had grown much more powerful indeed. Not to mention the fact that she would likely use the Aurora Stone to power up another Storm Engine and lay waste to them all. If that were true, then they had very little time before it would truly be the end of everything they had worked for.

"Where is it!?" Master Cyclonis raged; her eyes fully black except for the blazing red irises that burned into the Talon captain before her, "You were in charge of the watch responsible for securing my lab and I gave you orders to check on my chamber every minute or two! How is it that the Aurora Stone could be stolen right out from under your nose and the thief not be caught?"

"I-I-I- I'm s-s-sorry M-Master C-Cyclonis," The captain sputtered out, fearful that at any moment he might be incinerated. "W-we did exactly as you instructed…"

"If I might interrupt, I have a suggestion," Night Aerrow said suddenly, breaking the pace of Master Cyclonis's tirade. "If you are able to re-forge the Aurora Stone perfectly, then why not just create your own version of the Aurora Stone to power your Storm Engine?"

"That… is an excellent idea, my dear Night Aerrow, I knew there was a reason I was attracted to you. But I don't plan on using my Storm Engine to wipe the terras clean, that would be much too predictable and besides, Marrshal has devised a plan that is not quite so heavy in the casualty department." Master Cyclonis said after dismissing the Talon Captain.

"Ah yes, the ever- clever Marrshal, mind giving me a little hint as to how he plans on accomplishing this little wonder of the Atmos?" Night Aerrow asked.

"Maybe over dinner, if you're willing to accept." Master Cyclonis said in a teasing tone.

"I'd love to." Night Aerrow said as the two headed to the dining hall. However, before they arrived, Marrshal stepped out of the shadows and bowed to the two of them.

"Sorry to disturb your evening together, but there is news on the progress of your weapon my lady." Marrshal said in a penitent tone.

"Ah, that is always welcome news Marrshal, please, what is it?"

"Your Devastator cruiser has been completed my lady, the foreman says that in twelve hours they will have completed their tertiary checks of all systems and the vessel will be ready for whatever purpose you have in mind."

"Excellent, now Marrshal, if you don't mind, Night Aerrow and I have a dinner date that I sincerely look forward to enjoying." Master Cyclonis said; a note of warning in her voice.

"Of course, I will not keep you then."

Piper sat on the deck of the Condor, her legs hanging over the edge of the launch deck as she stared into the star filled darkness of the night sky. She had spent the past few days in quiet contemplation, an indulgence she rarely give herself and usually then only when she was working with her crystals. This time around though, she simply allowed herself to be alone with her thoughts, free from the daily tasks that normally occupied her time. She had a lot to think about though and needed this time to herself, before she once again plunged back into the fray, when all her time would have to be dedicated to trying to unravel the various schemes Cyclonis threw at them all while fighting her closest friend… And that was really what it came down to.

"One so young should not be so troubled with heavy thoughts." A voice suddenly came from behind her. She quickly turned to find one of the Ancients standing at the entrance to the hanger, the leader by the looks of his cloak. "I asked for permission to come aboard from Starling."

"I see." Piper responded quietly, "But my problem is not one that will simply go away with a simple application of sagely observation."

"Ah, you secretly despair over the fate of Aerrow, you fear that he will perish in this conflict, you also fear that you will have to fight him."

"I don't know…"

"It was clear that you have some feelings for Aerrow. Fear not, he is not truly lost to you yet, as long as he survives there is still hope that you can save him from the corruption Master Cyclonis has infected him with."

"How do you know that?"

"The third prediction of the Dark Oracle:

_And the arrow that protects Atmosia will be caught in the vortex of the whirlwind and trapped, unable to escape and captured in a crystal._

_The arrow will be turned on Atmosia and shall strike deep, not even the shields of old will be able to save the dreams of those once protected._

_Do not despair, for even chained the arrow still tries to fly true but even so the course is lost and only by the guide of the star, the rule and the eagle will the arrow be able to find the true path._

There is more to his prediction, but it cannot be revealed yet. Suffice to say, there is still hope for your friend, do not give up on him."

"But if what you said is true, then it sounds like not even you will be able to stop the Dark Ace and Aerrow." Piper said, quickly deciphering at least some of the prediction.

"Just because it is predicted we cannot stop them does not mean that fate cannot be changed, I would have thought that your encounter with the Oracle would have taught you that much."

"So wait, all of our actions have been part of some prediction long ago? Like we're some kind of destined Sky Knight Squad?"

"No, it is nothing like that; the seven predictions of the Dark Oracle were made in reference to a critical period in time when the fate of all the Atmos hangs in the balance. Because you have put yourselves in the position of being the first defense against Cyclonia, it should not be surprising that you play such a major role in the predictions. Instead, view this as the tale of one leader's revenge on your squadron for every plot that you have foiled."

"Are you serious? That's what this is all about? Revenge?"

"At least partially. After all, who better to use to bring about the fall of Atmosia than those who have proven themselves the best?"

"I see… Then how did you know we had an encounter with the Oracle?"

"Simply asked around, not everything we learn is from a mysterious source, sometimes it is best to just ignore such sources and go for confirmed facts. Mysterious sources tend to be cryptic and easily misunderstood. It is far too easy to make a mistake relying on enigmatic informants."

"Sounds like you have some personal experience in that regard." Piper said, looking up at the cloaked figure with an overly large smile on her face.

"Well, considering that we have had a millennium to contemplate everything we have learned in our lives thus far, we have had the chance to develop some fairly sophisticated convictions. Comes with sharing a common dream state."

"Really? That's interesting, how did you manage it? I've never heard of a crystal that allows people to share dreams."

"We share a unique bond with our crystals. They may only be inanimate crystalline structures, but we choose to use crystals that resonate with us. In the case of the stasis crystals we use, this allows us to share a common dream world. It is nice but reality is infinitely preferable. There are other advantages, such as our ability to use many different Sky Knight Moves."

"Why have you spent so much time asleep anyways, I believe this is the third or fourth time I've heard you mention that you were in stasis."

"It is nothing… We merely have a duty to perform and our natural lifespans would be insufficient to allow us to complete our task. Thus we must sleep for millennia at a time until called upon to perform our duties yet again. It is the fate our terra was condemned to long ago."

"Condemned? What task do you have to complete?" Piper said, interested in learning as much as she could.

"It is not for you to know, suffice to say that one day the accounts will be balanced." The Ancient leader said as he moved to leave, "Just remember not to give up on Aerrow, and if you lament his 'betrayal' too much, you will lose your only chance to save him. Do not fear for what may or may not come to pass, do what must be done."

Night Aerrow walked up to the doors of Master Cyclonis's crystal machine chamber to find the Dark Ace already waiting for him next to the entrance. The other three commanders were no where in evidence and he wondered exactly what this was all about. Master Cyclonis herself had kept things pretty mysterious, saying only that she was going to show them the future of Cyclonian military might.

"So, what do think Master Cyclonis wants to show us?" Night Aerrow asked in a casual tone.

"I'm not sure, truth be told I'm certain it will be immensely devastating to the Atmosians." Dark Ace responded. Before they could talk further however, one of the doors opened and Marrshal emerged.

"Gentlemen, our lady wishes to show you the future of Cyclonian military might now. Follow if you please." Marrshal said before disappearing back inside the chamber. As the two commanders entered the vault containing the crystal machine, they quickly noticed a previously-hidden passageway leading down into foundations of Cyclonia. By Night Aerrow's estimation, they had descended past the lowest known level of Cyclonia and were passing through the rock spire that formed the base for the main tower. As far as he could remember, there had never been any tunnels that lead this deep into Cyclonia; they must have been a relatively recent addition. At last they came to a door guarded by twin columns of shield crystal which Marrshal deactivated as they approached. Upon the deactivation of the shield, the doors slid open to reveal a vast underground dry dock containing a massive vessel nearly four times the size of a normal Cyclonian destroyer. Unlike a normal Cyclonian destroyer however, the vessel consisted of three hulls, two smaller hulls connected to either side of the main hull by numerous pylons and bridges as well as a large circular halo that encircled the stern of the vessel. The main hull was beak-shaped like the normal Cyclonian destroyer, while the smaller hulls were more triangular in their design, curving up to their junction with the circular halo which held the engine assemblies of the vessel.

"Ah Night Aerrow, Dark Ace, you have arrived… How do you like my Devastator?" Master Cyclonis inquired as she glided over to them.

"Not to doubt you Master, but didn't Snipe try something like this already?" the Dark Ace asked.

"True, he did," Master Cyclonis replied, as her eyes flashed with suppressed anger, "But I am not designing this vessel in the same way that fool did, this devastator is designed with the power to make it an effective weapon against our resistors. With eight sniper cannons, over fifty energy cannons and dual defensive shield matrices, this vessel is well protected from any assault. It is capable of housing nearly sixty Talon Switchblades in addition to the twenty automated defense skimmers that Marrshal designed."

"If I may interject, they are more of remote controlled than automated…" Marrshal commented as he looked up from his notepad.

"Yes, remote controlled… Anyways, this cruiser has power to spare, unlike so many of our destroyers. In addition, this vessel shall serve as my personal flagship and thus I will be enhancing the crystals aboard using my newly gained powers. It will have more firepower per cannon on average than the average cruiser thanks to this fact and the cloaking crystals inlaid into the hull will render it nearly impossible to see unless we want the Atmosians to see it." Master Cyclonis boasted, "Not to mention this vessel is capable of storing any super-weapons I wish to develop on board, to say nothing of the other features I have not made mention of. In every aspect this is intended to be a command ship."

"It succeeds quite nicely in that regard." Night Aerrow said as he looked up and down the span of the cruiser. "Of course, I am curious as to how the cruiser is going to leave this dry dock seeing as there is no exit."

"Ah yes, if you will board the vessel with me, I will show you." Master Cyclonis replied simply as she glided up the boarding ramp into the devastator. As she disappeared inside, the two other commanders hurried up the ramp after her, eager to see this demonstration. As Night Aerrow stepped on the bridge, he noticed that it was much larger than the typical Cyclonian bridge and the rear wall was lined with several dozen alcoves. These were likely storage areas for the captured Sky Knights so Master Cyclonis could display them for any future captives, weakening morale and creating some variation in expression and pose. There were also several additional stations on the bridge, likely to accommodate the remote controlled defenses as well as control any super-weapons that might be brought on board. In the center of the rear area of the bridge, a large throne adorned with various crystals sat, clearly meant for Master Cyclonis. A sudden presence distracted him, and Night Aerrow turned to find himself face to face with Marrshal, who had just teleported onto the command deck of the vessel.

"Apologies, hope you were not too startled." Marrshal apologized quietly as he moved off to one side and took his seat at a radio station. Meanwhile, Master Cyclonis took her seat, crystalline pipes extending from the throne into various ports located on the floor and ceiling near the throne as she sat down. Energy began to pulse along the crystal conduits as the vessel awakened around them, clearly preparing for departure. Suddenly, the crystals around her illuminated brilliantly, a glow that quickly spread to encompass the entire vessel. With a sudden 'Bang!' the view outside of the bridge windows was replaced with a clear view of the stormy skies surrounding Cyclonia.

"This behemoth can teleport?" the Dark Ace asked incredulously as he looked the skies outside.

"Indeed, but only over short distances, less than a thousand feet or so. Still, now that this cruiser is free of its 'cocoon' the end of Atmosia is nigh, particularly once the entire invasion fleet is assembled."


	24. Chapter 24

**Darkening Skies: Death of a Dream**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 4**

Piper and the other Storm Hawks rapidly prepared their skimmers, outfitting them with additional weapons and fuel for the upcoming battle. A report had just arrived that Terra Tropica was about to come under attack and the Sky Knights on Atmosia had been scrambled to defend the besieged terra. By all known travel times, Piper estimated that they would arrive approximately fifteen minutes after the Cyclonians had begun their assault. This would be their first battle with the Ancients and Piper was actually looking forward to seeing what they could do in battle. Hopefully with their help the Storm Hawks would be able to capture Aerrow and undo whatever it was that Cyclonis had done.

"So, this is how we herald the attack that will mean the fall of Atmosia? With an attack on those Terra Rex losers?" Snipe asked boorishly as he looked out the windows at the unprotected terra some distance off. According to plan, a massive force of seven Cyclonian destroyers had blatantly headed for Terra Tropica. Meanwhile, the Devastator, five destroyers and eight frigates had set course for Terra Rex; one destroyer for each of the commanders present at this battle. According to Marrshal's plan, the attack on Tropica was a feint; it really did not matter if they won there or not. Snipe found it all horribly complicated, why did they not simply go straight for their intended target and crush those annoying Sky Knights once and for all?

"You know commander; sometimes your inability to comprehend subtly astounds even me." Marrshal said from the rear of the bridge. Now that Snipe knew who the man truly was, he found it irritating how often the sneaky little weasel hung around him, constantly critiquing every decision he made and pointing out any perceived flaws in his thinking. If it were not for Cyclonis's decree to cooperate with the spy, Snipe would have crushed him long ago.

"Don't you have someone else to bug?" Snipe asked, frowning as his comment prompted Marrshal to scribble several sentences on his notepad.

"Not really, just checking to make sure everyone understands exactly what they are supposed to do once this operation gets underway. Would you like to review your objectives?" Marrshal responded in a patronizing tone, "You could even look at the notepad, they are all recorded right here."

"No, I happen to know exactly what I need to do, now go bug someone else before I shove you out an airlock."

"As tempting as it would be to see you try, if you know everything you need to do then I will be on my way." Marrshal said, covering the disappointment in his tone well. He greatly wished that Snipe had decided to read the notebook, since death by poison ink would be an appropriate end for Snipe. Alas, assassinating a fellow commander would be a rather large and unforgivable black mark on his record. Besides, since he wrote everything in his special ink, there was always the chance that Snipe would poison himself during an inept attempt at snooping. Cyclonis would know immediately what had happened though, she knew he only wrote notes in toxic pigments; which was why she only ever touched the margins of any document he handed her.

"Well?" Master Cyclonis said as Marrshal reappeared on the bridge of the Devastator in a brilliant aura.

"It seems that everyone is aware of what they need to do in the upcoming battle. If there is nothing else, I will proceed with my part of the plan." Marrshal said blandly as he tucked his notebook into an interior pocket hidden in his sleeve.

"Do not presume to tell me the pacing of our plan. You are clever Marrshal, but don't forget your place, even if I do give you more leeway than some of my other commanders."

"Of course, I was merely pointing out that I had best leave soon if we want to secure the information contained on Terra Rex. And I do appreciate the incredible freedom you have given me in my position."

"Good, now go enjoy yourself." Master Cyclonis said as she dismissed him. Although she would never say it to Marrshal, she was very tense about this upcoming campaign. Months of convoluted scheming and contrived planning had gone into this entire assault and now, on the eve of her victory, she wondered if she and Marrshal had thought of every contingency. To have come so far only to fail… it simply could not be an option, she would win this time and everything she desired would be hers at last.

Marrshal lovingly ran a hand over the sleek aerodynamic curves of his personal skimmer, admiring each detail of the vehicle. Unlike most skimmers which transformed into a motorcycle when not in aircraft mode, his skimmer had no wheels; instead floating on two pads of floater crystal with levitation crystal stabilizers to facilitate rapid turning. Specially designed engines were capable of running silently, even when run at full power. They were also capable of rotating about where they connected to the main body of his skimmers, allowing for quick changes of direction, even in mid-air. Like most skimmers, his skimmer had retractable wings, specially designed to slice through the air quietly while providing maximum lift. In keeping with his preference to use stealth rather than outright force, the vehicle had no weaponry and almost no armor, both replaced with a cloaking crystal system that allowed him to sneak past enemies undetected. The skimmer had been a gift from Master Cyclonis to commemorate his promotion to commander. Regrettably, he had never had much use for the craft since he spent so much time either in his personal lair or away from Cyclonia in the guise of another. Truly, he had never appreciated the true value of the skimmer, an error in judgment he would correct. With a small grin on his face, Marrshal climbed onto the craft and sped off into the clear skies, heading for Terra Rex.

After a quick flight, Marrshal landed on Terra Rex and quietly made his way toward the libraries, keeping to the shadows to enhance the effectiveness of the cloaking crystal fragments woven into his cloak. Unfortunately, a rather perceptive guard managed to spot him before he was fully hidden and Marrshal had to quickly dispose of the man. That alone would make speed of the essence, it was only a matter of time until the relief guard or some comrade discovered their fellow dying guard, at which point the alarm would definitely be raised. Such was inevitable; those on the side of good always seemed to be 'lucky' enough to discover the handiwork left behind by villains. It was really a curse for both sides; for heroes since they were exposed to such nightmarish things and for villains because it always lead to their plans being discovered. Best to get this over with quickly and successfully so the man's fate was not in vain; it would be a shame if Marrshal had disposed of the guard only to be caught in the end. That would have made the guard's fate a needless and pointless act of violence since he had not accomplished his mission. Such perversions of logic were why he left the Merbs in the first place; they simply did not appreciate such reasoning.

Fortunately for the residents of the terra, he reached his objectives without further incident and was able to easily infiltrate the library; but then again, who in their right mind would raid a library? Information was more valuable than crystals however, and libraries were the best source of information around. Mentally preparing himself for the massive amount of information he was about to assimilate, Marrshal walked over to the first book and rapidly flipped through the pages, his photographic memory capturing every detail of each sheet and storing it for later access. He only had an hour at most; time enough to only read through the most vital tomes in the library. It was disappointing really, one could learn so much about people by reading what they valued in literature. He could always come back later and read more, but he doubted that he would have the time if Master Cyclonis decided to implement his social reforms.

"So Night Aerrow, think we'll encounter any resistance?" the Dark Ace called over to Night Aerrow as the two lead their Talon Squadrons toward the unprepared terra below.

"I doubt it, at least at first." Night Aerrow said casually as he pulled out his twin firebolt blades. "Piper's a smart girl though, she'll figure out what we're planning even if she doesn't figure out the target."

"By then it will be too late, Terra Rex will be under our control and the fate of Atmosia will be sealed."

"Too true." Night Aerrow said with a laugh as he led his Talons on their first bombing run of the terra.

Piper grimaced to herself as she sent another Talon spiraling down to crash on the terra below. This battle had gone way too smoothly, neither the Dark Ace nor Aerrow had been in evidence, nor had Ravess or Snipe shown up. The realization that this was a decoy attack had sunk in several seconds ago and now she was left to think through where the actual Cyclonian attack might be. Atmosia itself might be the target, but they had called in Sky Knights from more secure terras to defend the terra in the absence of other Sky Knights. In fact, there was only one terra that was completely unguarded right now, a thought which occurred to her as she saw Harrier dive toward a group of Talons. Realizing that Terra Rex was likely under attack, Piper wheeled around and shot toward the nearest Sky Knight, the Ancient's leader.

"Vespos! This attack is a feint; the real target is Terra Rex!" Piper yelled as soon as he was within earshot.

"And?" Vespos asked in a surprisingly callous tone.

"Can you and the Ancients help us out? The other Sky Knights can handle this situation, but they don't stand a chance against the Dark Ace and Aerrow." Piper pleaded.

"My honor as a Sky Knight requires that we assist you. Very well, I shall gather what Ancients I can." Vespos said in a dissatisfied tone. As he raced off toward the Ancient carrier, Piper could not help but wonder why the Ancients were so hesitant to help Terra Rex. In fact, ever since they had shown up, the Ancients had been carrying on their own personal cold war with the Rex Guardian, only replying to him when required. Even then, their typical politeness seemed absent, their responses curt and to the point. It was something that bore investigating in more peaceful times. As she continued her contemplations, Piper gathered up the other Storm Hawks and headed for the Condor after letting the other Sky Knights know what was going on. With the exception of Harrier, the other Sky Knights had agreed to stay behind and mop up the Talons remaining on Tropica, ensuring that there would at least be one Atmosian victory today.

"So Marrshal, I trust that you managed to secure the information from the library?" Master Cyclonis asked as she glided across the arena on Terra Rex towards where Marrshal stood contemplating a large cloud bank.

"Yes, I have memorized all that you wanted me to with the exception of the Legendarium containing the history of the first Sky Knights. The tome is not here, despite the fact that it should be according to every reference book I have ever read." Marrshal explained.

"Interesting, they hid the book from us then?"

"No, it was never here, there is no record of it in the archives and no space for it on the shelves. The Legendarium simply has never been here, I am not sure where it might be aside from Atmosia."

"Pity… Ah well, a minor setback but it hardly matters in the grand scheme of things. Very well, is everything ready for the inevitable counter-attack?"

"Yes."

"Good… by the way, some of the Talons discovered an injured guard whose face had been shoved into a wall among other choice injuries. They were quite traumatized by the scene and thus I believe it to be your handiwork, would this be a correct assumption?"

"Yes… Did the man survive?"

"Only barely. He'll never be able to speak again though."

"Pity he had to pay such a high price just for doing his job… Perhaps I should send him some form of compensation?"

"I'll give him a crystal that will read his mind and translate into speech later as a show of my 'benevolence.' That should earn me some points with the family, provided they never figure out his loss of speech was our fault to begin with."

"Clever, it sounds like something I might do."

"Perhaps… Continue your watch and alert me as soon as you see anything that looks like a Sky Knight." Master Cyclonis said, abruptly cutting off the conversation.

Not more than an hour later, the Talons scrambled as Marrshal reported approaching Sky Knights; including a squadron he had never seen before. With efficiency that came from both fear of Master Cyclonis and pride at their accomplishments, the Talons rapidly launched and set course for the new arrivals. Night Aerrow and the Dark Ace were quick to join them, having been delayed by a debate between Marrshal and Snipe about the best way to handle the remainder of the campaign precipitated by a comment on how often this terra would likely come under attack. Marrshal had goaded the blockhead into the argument, and then had neatly orchestrated the debate so that it seemed that Snipe was actually the one who had started the whole incident. From Piper's lessons on the importance of subtly, Night Aerrow had learned the value of deception so he could appreciate Marrshal's abilities. However, now was probably not the best time to reflect on such things Night Aerrow thought to himself as he watched the Sky Knights approach. Seeing as they had just subjugated the terra, a victory here was crucial if they wanted to avoid an uprising. By the looks of things, the attacking force was composed of the remaining Storm Hawks, some unknown squadron shrouded in heavy cloaks and Harrier. Excellent, this would give him the chance to wrap up some unfinished business with the Rex Guardian. However, just as he grinned in anticipation of the coming battle, the advancing Sky Knights came up short and formed a picket line about twenty yards away.

"Aerrow, please surrender yourself so we may purge the evil of Cyclonis from your body and mind." One of the cloaked figures said as he drew his sword and pointed toward the line of Talons.

"You've got to be kidding me…" Night Aerrow said in an exasperated tone as he pulled out his own blades. "I'm Night Aerrow now and I have no desire to return to the delusions known as the Sky Knight Code. As for the whole purging evil thing, I rather like being this way…" Night Aerrow continued, his tone becoming ominous. Without waiting for a response, he whirled around and sent twin arcs of red energy streaking toward his opponents. With an ease that only experienced Sky Knights could manage, the cloaked figures barrel-rolled to avoid the energy waves while the others dodged by changing course, breaking up or down primarily.

"As that is your choice…" the cloaked figure from before said as he lifted his sword, "Ancients, protect our allies."

"Yes sir." The other figures said, taking up positions in an arc behind the main figure. Deciding not to wait and see what they had planned, Night Aerrow dove in to attack, followed closely by the Dark Ace. However, just before they reached striking distance, dozens of white-hot blades exploded outward from the man's sword, tearing through both their skimmers as well as the skimmers of the Talons behind them. Unfortunately, Night Aerrow had already leapt from his ride onto the leader's skimmer, attacking the Ancient with a vicious downward strike. However, Vespos blocked and then parried the blow, taking his blade into a circular swing that suddenly caused a shield to manifest between the two. Without more than a moment's pause, Vespos drove his sword through the shield, shattering it into dozens of glowing fragments that slowly spun about his blade. With a quick horizontal slash, he sent the shards flying at Night Aerrow. The fallen Sky Knight expertly blocked the energy fragments that presented an actual danger to him and charged forward to strike while the Ancient had his guard down. Instead of defending however, Vespos merely planted his sword, calling the shards back to form a glowing star in between the two combatants. Before Night Aerrow could strike, the star exploded into a shockwave of white energy knocking him off the skimmer. As he fell, the Ancient pulled out a rope and quickly lassoed him, preventing him from using his glider to escape. As he was jerked to a halt, Night Aerrow managed to catch a glimpse of several of the robed figures attempting to subdue the Dark Ace.

"You will not escape fallen Sky Knight; you must be saved from the evil that has corrupted you. Please do not resist, you will only hate yourself all the more for the deeds you will commit when you do come to your senses."

"I do not want to be 'rescued.'" Night Aerrow shot back sarcastically, "You'll not brainwash me into being a Sky Knight again!" With a sudden spinning motion, Night Aerrow sliced through the cords restraining him and deployed his glider, firing the newly installed mini-jets to lift himself back onto his opponent's sky ride. The Ancient seized the momentum however, and thrust toward Night Aerrow with his sword in an attempt to force Aerrow off the skimmer. In a surprise move, Night Aerrow dropped off the back of the skimmer, quickly grabbing onto an engine support and swinging back up onto the skimmer; kicking Vespos square in the chest as he did so. The Ancient recovered quickly however, somehow managing to land on the lower wing of his skimmer and use it as a platform to leap back toward Night Aerrow. As he did so, a white aura surrounded his blade and he slashed downward to send an arc of energy flying toward the fallen Sky Knight. Night Aerrow rolled out of the way only to be hit from behind with an energy blast from another one of the cloaked Sky Knights.

"Not one to play fair are we?" Night Aerrow grunted as he struggled back to his feet, shaking off the effects of the energy blast.

"I see no reason to give the dishonorable the advantage of fair play." Vespos said as he whirled his sword around to create a deadly disk of energy while yet another Ancient flew up to join the battle.

The Dark Ace grunted in frustration as he fended off several blows at once from the robed Sky Knights. Despite having been able to fly over to one of their skimmers and engage in combat, he still felt like he was in free fall. How had such a high quality squadron escaped his notice? Whoever these people were, they seemed capable of holding their own against him, and he found himself pushed to the edge of his limits as more of the shrouded figures joined the fray.

"So you are the Dark Ace, scourge of the Sky Knights?" Keas said as she stabbed toward the Dark Ace, the energy arcs whirling about her blade forcing the Dark Ace to leap farther back than he had anticipated as they sliced through his armor. Once safely out of range, he quickly knocked the empowered blade aside and drove toward the Ancient tactician, only to have his blow intercepted by the blade of another Ancient. Two other Ancients jammed their blades through the space between his twin blades and rotated them, catching them in an 'x' vice that prevented him from moving the blade. Another one of the Sky Knights leaped up behind him, charging up a Sky Knight Move similar to his own. Recognizing the threat instantly, the Dark Ace yanked his sword back with desperate strength, freeing it from the vice the Ancients had caught the blade in. Without pause, he spun around, bringing his weapon up to block the incoming bolt of energy. As soon as he blocked it however, he quickly rolled under the flying Sky Knight to avoid the blows from the Ancients who had trapped him a moment earlier. He leapt to his feet as soon as he was safely past the airborne Ancient and swung, hoping to eliminate at least one of the threats present. Although he managed to hit the figure, his blade quickly rebounded off some form of armor that the man was wearing. Alerted of the Dark Ace's exact position by the blow, the Ancient spun around, a whip of white energy having taken the place of his blade. He lashed out at the Dark Ace, the energy whip extending and forcing the Dark Ace to jump out of the way with each strike. Meanwhile, the other Ancients glided around the duel, floating on levitation platforms powered by wind crystals that had appeared out of nowhere. They formed an arc behind the Dark Ace, trapping him between the two groups of Ancients. Distracted by the threat presented by the two groups, the Dark Ace barely noticed Starling flying in from the side in time to dodge her kick. As she flew past, Starling grabbed the skimmer's seat and used it as an anchor to swing onto the skimmer. As she landed in between the Dark Ace and the Ancient however, the Dark Ace quickly moved forward, kicking Starling into the cloaked figure. As the two fell back, the arc of Ancients behind him opened fire with a vicious volley of Sky Knight Moves, four energy missiles headed straight for him.

"Apologies my lady, but it seems these new Sky Knights have managed to match the Dark Ace and Night Aerrow blow for blow. Eventually, I fear that the Dark Ace and Aerrow may lose." Marrshal said in a polite tone.

"Really? That is surprising, how did they accomplish such a feat?" Master Cyclonis asked, relatively unconcerned. The Dark Ace and Night Aerrow were skilled Cyclonian Knights; they would probably win in the end despite Marrshal's cautions.

"Their combat style appears to rely heavily on chaining together several Sky Knight Moves to dominate their opponents. These must be the Ancients I have heard about, if so, they are an incredibly potent threat. Every Ancient is supposedly a Sky Knight of greater skill than is normal for a Sky Knight. Beyond that, nothing is known except for what may be written in the Legendarium." Marrshal recited from memory. His statements put Master Cyclonis on alert, perhaps his cautions were warranted after all, especially considering the number of Ancients that appeared to be present in the battle zone.

"In that case, perhaps I should greet them myself." Master Cyclonis intoned in a dark tone as a red aura seethed around her. With a simple gesture towards the sky, the aura brightened and exploded into hundreds of streamers of red light. Guided by her hands, the streamers slammed into the skimmers of the Ancients, disassembling the machines in a matter of seconds. To her surprise however, the Ancients neither fell nor deployed gliders or parachutes, instead they were held aloft by levitation fields created by wind crystals. Seeing as these Ancients bore closer investigation, she floated up into the battle zone, her shield blocking any stray fire that connected with her.

"So, you are Master Cyclonis, the most powerful crystalmancer on all of Atmos." The leader of the Ancients concluded as she drew closer to him, "Were it not for the incarnation crystal you wear, we would strike you down where you stand."

"My Chaos Crystal? How interesting… now back off or I'll show you how powerful I truly am." Cyclonis said in a threatening tone.

"Do not overestimate your abilities." Vespos said in a relaxed tone as he held his sword in a defensive position, vertically in front of him. The other Ancients, as if acting on cue, shifted their grips on their swords to defensive positions.

"I'm not, which is why I decided to simply delay you until my frigates finished getting into position for an ambush." Cyclonis explained in a nonchalant tone as eight frigates rose out of the clouds around the battle zone. "Submit now and I promise you will all get wonderful positions in Cyclonia."

"I must decline." Vespos shouted back as he and the other Ancients flew off toward their carrier, realizing their position was untenable. Seeing their retreat, the Storm Hawks decided to practice the better part of valor and retreat as well, returning to the Condor as Stork set a course away from the battle. Harrier however, would not let the honor of his terra be tainted by a Cyclonian occupation and, instead of falling back as the others did, charged forward with a battle call. Before he could attack though, Night Aerrow neatly took him out by clotheslining him across the throat, knocking the Rex Guardian off his skimmer. Instead of letting him fall into the Wastelands below however, Night Aerrow grabbed Harrier by the back of his armor and carried him back to Terra Rex. It would be good to knock the arrogant Sky Knight down a few pegs.

Harrier suppressed a groan as he returned to consciousness and, as his eyesight returned, found himself looking at the deck of a Cyclonian vessel of some kind. So that was the game then, he thought to himself with a grimace. They were capturing Sky Knights rather than allowing them to fall honorably in battle and though this fact gave him hope of rescuing his squadron, he still found it laughable that even Cyclonis could be so arrogant. After all, her schemes had been foiled time after time by Sky Knights, surely she would prefer to eliminate the threat rather than risk keeping them in servitude.

"Well Harrier, I see that you have regained consciousness… not that you technically ever had it to begin with. Regardless, you should be honored that I have decided to add you to my collection." Master Cyclonis said smugly as the Dark Ace and Night Aerrow hauled the hapless Rex Guardian to his feet. As they did so, several panels in the wall slid down into the floor to reveal the rest of his squadron encased in transparent crystal, their countenances frozen in expressions of fear and terror.

"You monster! How dare you-!" Harrier screamed in a mixture of outrage at the fate of his team and fear for his own fate. Seconds later, Master Cyclonis walked over to examine her latest addition to her statue collection.

"Nice expression, perfect for him I should think… Add him to the collection with the others. Perhaps when this is all over, I'll put them all in a garden, Cyclonia could use some more culture… Well, enough idle musing, Marrshal where do we proceed from here?"

"Well, as soon as the battle here began, Ravess and Snipe were sent with the destroyers to ensure our victory at Tropica. Once they return, we can consolidate our forces and ensure our hold on the conquered terras as well as secure them against counterattack. Once that is accomplished, the way to Atmosia will be fully open to us and our assault on the center of Free Atmos can begin."

"Excellent, how long do they have?"

"A day or two at most, depends on how long it takes our reinforcements to arrive." Marrshal said with a small smirk on his face.


	25. Apology for Hiatus

Intermission

My apologies to everyone who has been reading Darkening Skies over to recent hiatus. On December 4th, my computer suffered a motherboard crash, preventing me from logging on to my computer. Between the difficulty in finding the money and the impending holidays, I was unable to get my computer repaired and returned to me until January 3rd, only to find that all the work I had done during that session had been lost. Thankfully, the majority of my work was backed up and intact. With this in mind, Darkening Skies will begin updating again here by the end of the week since I need to rebuild my buffer of completed chapters so that hopefully I can update on a fairly regular basis despite my changing weekly schedule.

Apologies to all on the inconvenience, Darkening Skies will return to a normal update schedule this Saturday, January 12th.

Chaotic Manifest


	26. Chapter 26

**Darkening Skies: Death of a Dream**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 5**

Piper silently slammed her fist into a side panel of the Condor's bridge, frustrated at how badly they had failed in their goal. They had been so close to retrieving Aerrow, if only Master Cyclonis had not been there with the Dark Ace, they would have saved him by now. It was clear to her now though that Master Cyclonis would not take any chances with her new servant and would do anything in her power to prevent the Storm Hawks from recovering him. If they were to save him, they would need to wait until Cyclonis let down her guard and grew confident, but that would mean the end of Atmosia, the end of the dream of freedom. No, that was unacceptable, they had to defend Atmosia to the best of their ability, she had already realized this and she would not back down now. If she wanted to save Aerrow, then she needed to step up her plans and do what was necessary to capture him, particularly since the next strike the Cyclonians would make would target Atmosia itself. It was the only logical option left to them really; the Sky Knight Council had recalled every remaining squadron to the terra in order to prevent any further loses before the final assault came. It was hard to believe that everything essentially came down to this next battle; the fate of Free Atmos would be decided in only a few days at most and Piper feared that it would not end well for the Sky Knights, especially considering the reports that were coming through from the scouting parties that were monitoring Cyclonian troop movements. According to these reports, Terra Rex had become a nearly impenetrable fortress of Cyclonian power with twelve destroyers and nearly fifty Cyclonian frigates with countless Talons. Such a massive force could only be intended for an attack on Atmosia itself… Piper was certain of it now, since the Cyclonians had 'proven' the Sky Knights could not win, a strike at Atmosia would permanently destroy morale.

In frustration, Piper shook her head to clear it of such thoughts; to simply contemplate the inevitability of the assault on Atmosia would only amplify her fears about this coming battle. Better to focus on the strategies they would need to employ to stand a chance at victory, and with Harrier now captured by Cyclonis, perhaps the other Sky Knights would listen to her. She quickly grabbed and rolled out a map of Atmosia itself, looking for anything that could provide them with a tactical advantage. She quickly spotted a potential advantage: the lower lands of the terra might provide the perfect staging ground for a counter-attack straight up into the Cyclonian invasion force, provided they hid themselves well. In addition, other Sky Knights could hide elsewhere on the terra itself and provide a second wave of reinforcements… that would help to make it seem like there were many more Sky Knights than there actually were, an important psychological advantage. Another thought occurred to her suddenly with regards to numbers, something that was not shown on any map: Repton and his Raptors were currently being held prisoner on Atmosia. Considering their recent treatment at the hands of the Cyclonians, perhaps they would be willing to join the fight; the only problem was how to present the situation to them. If they truly knew how bad the odds were, Repton might decide to join the Cyclonians instead, just to be on the winning side. At the same time, they had to be made aware of just how bad things were; otherwise they would simply run in fright as soon as the massive Cyclonian fleet appeared. Better to know where the Raptors stood now than to have them desert the battle, and the threat of what would happen to them if the Cyclonians managed to conquer Atmos was likely to be a powerful motivator to convince them to join the Sky Knights. Time would tell, but Repton was no fool, despite how easily they usually were able to humiliate him and his squadron.

"Surely you jest." Repton growled at the female Sky Knight who sat across from him in the cell they both currently shared. The only difference was that she would be allowed to leave whenever she wished while he was condemned to remain confined. Even considering the situation though, it was insulting that she had come to him to ask for help in fending off the impending Cyclonian assault on this doomed terra. The Sky Knights would clearly lose, there was no profit in it for him or his Raptors and he would risk the ire of Cyclonis by helping these stubborn fools.

"I'm serious; surely you must be able to imagine what our world will be like under the rule of Cyclonis." Piper replied evenly, not willing to concede the fight just yet. Certainly Repton was able to see that he and his Raptors would all suffer equally under the dominion of Cyclonis, why would he not admit to it?

"And if we help you, her wrath will be a thousand times greater than otherwise. No thank you, I'll cut my losses now." Repton grunted in a half-defeated tone.

"We might not lose, there is still some chance we may achieve victory. Besides, how can you not want to pay the Cyclonians back for their betrayal of you and your squadron?" Piper added, going for the vengeance angle. For a long time after her question, silence reigned in the cell, disturbed only by the quiet sounds of the other prisoners down the hall. Piper hazarded a look at Repton's downcast face, quickly seeing that the Raptor leader was lost in thought. It was a difficult decision to make and Piper did not envy Repton the conundrum he now faced. At long last however, Repton looked up at Piper, a placid expression on his face.

"Your leader once said that if we joined you, the other Sky Knights would not hold our previous actions against us and we would be free to do as we wished. Does that offer still stand?" Repton asked in a quiet tone.

"It was never rescinded, although I will confess that not all Sky Knights will be as forgiving as Starling was… But, provided you do not continue hunting Sky Knights, they will learn to accept and respect you in time." Piper responded solemnly.

"Very well then, perhaps a chance for freedom from Cyclonia is worth fighting for after all." Repton said earnestly as he stood up. It might be futile, but at least then the Raptors would go out fighting rather than whimpering in some corner like a leaper.

"Glad to have you on our side after all." Piper said as she stood as well. While the Raptors would only add a few pilots to their defense force, they had proven to be more capable than some Sky Knight squadrons and that skill would be invaluable in the battle to come. At least she had managed to accomplish this one victory, now she only had a million things to do before the Cyclonian assault to ensure some chance of victory or at least survival…

Terra Rex…

Master Cyclonis sat in the shadows on her mobile throne room that had been hastily constructed on Terra Rex, contemplating the future of the Cyclonian assault. Marrshal had assured her that their victory at Atmosia was inevitable, but now that she had time to think, she realized that there was a large obstacle to their success, manifested in the form of the Ancients. There was no guarantee that even her two champions would be able to win against such powerful and tenacious opponents and if they managed to capture Night Aerrow then they would surely purify him of her influence. The thought of losing him conjured up a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach, a feeling she recognized as anxiety… Did he truly mean that much to her? The answer immediately came to her: yes, he did mean that much to her, she did not want to go through life without Night Aerrow by her side. While the same was true of the Dark Ace, this was more intense; it went beyond the bond she shared with the Dark Ace, it could almost be called… love? Her mind instantly rebelled at the thought; she was the dark heart of Cyclonia, the very incarnation of malevolence on their world. She could no more be in love than a Merb could be amiable. Yet, she had a Merb under her command who seemed to live a normal life, well, about as normal as a spymaster of Cyclonia could be. Certainly nothing was impossible and had she not told Aerrow that she found him cute?

"My lady?" Marrshal asked, startling her from her perplexing musings.

"What is it Marrshal?" she asked, irritated that she had not been allowed to unravel the confounding mystery her own emotions presented her with.

"You are deep in troubling thoughts… Perhaps if you are willing to share, the advice of another may bring some peace to your troubled mind." The Merb said in a sage tone. His offer was peculiar and earned him a suspicious glare from the master of Cyclonia.

"Now that is odd, why would it matter to you what my thoughts are?" Master Cyclonis retorted, sarcasm heavily tainting her voice.

"Truth be told, after all you have done for me, I would be remiss if I did not help you in some way beyond what is expected of me as a spymaster. You have done me many favors, overlooked flaws that you would have punished any other man for and I wish to show my gratitude." Marrshal replied; an oddly solemn note in his voice, "I believe that is what friends do for each other and I have noticed a certain camaraderie between us. Not as strong as between you and the Dark Ace or Night Aerrow, but they are not here to comfort you right now and I would hate to see you struggle through this alone."

"I see." Master Cyclonis responded cautiously. This was odd behavior for Marrshal, he had always been an odd person but his idiosyncrasies generally seemed to run more on the psychotic side rather than characteristics generally attributed to a friend. Once again, the prospect that Marrshal was not entirely sane crossed her mind, but as usual was quickly dismissed. There was little doubt that Marrshal had some psychotic tendencies, anyone in his line of work did if they wanted to survive, but he often hid his true nature behind a mask of professionalism and his peculiar logic with regards to his job. Perhaps he really was a different person under all those layers of deception, no one would likely ever know for certain. Still, this was an excellent chance to get a look at the actual person Marrshal was, what harm could there be in soliciting his advice this once?

"I think I am… in love." She stated flatly after another moments pause for consideration.

"Interesting…" Marrshal said in an odd tone, any change in his expression hidden by the shadows of his hood. "I had suspected as much for a time now and, though I have little experience with this subject, I can nevertheless offer my opinions and hope they help in some small way. Would you care to hear conciliatory advice or exploitive advice?" he continued. Master Cyclonis had to work to keep from rolling her eyes at his question; she should have suspected that some maniacal aspect of Marrshal's personality would cover the subject of exploiting love.

"Both I suppose… at least one of them will probably help."

"Very well, first off, let us cover the obvious: you are human and all humans have emotions, even if you work to suppress them as you have in favor of becoming purely malevolent. That being said, you should not be ashamed of falling in love with another, rather, you should embrace it as part of who you are. Explore these feelings and find out the true depth of your capacity for love and you will be a better person for it. You will find that being in love can make you happy in a way nothing else can. Being in love can drive you to greater heights of inspiration and creativity and can motivate you to fight on when others would have given up. Or, if that is too mushy for you, you can exploit love to learn how it motivates others to act the way they do and learn how to hurt them the most. Use this as an opportunity harden yourself and become truly malevolent, without care or concern for others by forcing the one you love to reject you and hurt you in ways you never thought possible." The spymaster explained with a calm demeanor, as if he were discussing the weather. For her part, Master Cyclonis could not help but stare in semi-horrified shock at what Marrshal had just said.

"I…" she managed to get out before Marrshal held up a hand to indicate he was not yet finished.

"Now I personally have largely rejected emotion and would not follow either of these paths, but that is not for everyone. My advice is simply based on how I have observed others respond to being in love and, truth be told, I find the first path to be preferable to the second simply because the wholesale rejection of love can only lead one to the madness that often comes from such loneliness. But ultimately, it is your decision and if you think you would rather reject love then I support your decision. If you decide to embrace it, I support your decision and if you decide to deny it then I will still support you."

"I see… thank you Marrshal, you have giving me quite a bit to think about." Master Cyclonis said at last, the numbness left from the horrific nature of his original conclusions rapidly fading now that he had further explained his stance.

"I am glad that I could assist you in this regard, however; though I am loath to presume to give you orders in any matter, the time is not right for you to fully explore your feelings. That kind of soul-searching can be a long process and our goals are rather time sensitive right now, perhaps it would be best to simply take the steps necessary to protect Night Aerrow now so that you can determine how you truly feel at your leisure and unhindered by the taint of denied love." Marrshal quietly whispered to her, ensuring that no Talon would hear.

"It is presumptuous of you, but you're right in this regard, I cannot let my personal conflicts interfere with my long-term goals… I think it is time to reveal my latest crystal creation." Master Cyclonis replied in an equally quiet tone, the fact that Marrshal had concluded that Night Aerrow might be the object of her affections not particularly surprising her. "Summon the other Talon commanders to me and I shall show them something which will make us unstoppable."

"As you wish my lady." Marrshal said before he quietly slipped out of the throne room to find the other Talon commanders.

"This better be good, I was enjoying that sandwich you made disappear." Snipe groused at Marrshal as the five Talon commanders gathered outside the impromptu throne room on Terra Rex.

"Do hold your tongue." Marrshal sniped back harshly as he leapt off to top of the archway over the throne room door and landed silently in front of his follow commanders. "I never do anything without good purpose behind it; if you and your better half would ever communicate you might realize that." Marrshal continued.

"Huh?"

"I think he means if you and your brain ever communicated you might be more perceptive." Night Aerrow responded hesitantly a few seconds later, not entirely sure if that was the actual meaning of Marrshal's thinly veiled insult.

"Why didn't he just say that then?" Snipe asked in a confused tone.

"You are missing the point as usual…" Marrshal rejoined as he backed up to the doors of the throne room, "Regardless, our master has something she wants to show you all and it is assured that this is far more important than some sandwich which is now floating in oblivion."

"Okay, but I still don't see why you had to kill my sandwich…"

"You cannot kill what is already dead, now unless you want to be able to finish eating that sandwich, you will be quiet until our master is finished. She is ready for us now; it would be rude to keep her waiting any longer." Marrshal rasped as he quietly opened the throne room doors, showing the other Talon commanders inside. Once the others were inside, he quietly closed the doors and walked a third of the way around the ovaloid dome and quickly traced a design on the surface with his fingers. Immediately a secret door opened in total silence and Marrshal walked through as the door closed as quietly as it had opened. Upon emerging from the short passageway on the other side of the door, Marrshal stepped up beside the throne Master Cyclonis was seated in; taking pleasure in the surprised looks that crossed the faces of Ravess and Snipe, both of whom were still not used to the spymaster's methods of sneaking around.

"Ah, I am so glad everyone could make it to this little unveiling ceremony." Master Cyclonis announced in a grandiose tone. "As you all are no doubt aware, a new threat has presented itself, a threat which is able to counter even our best commanders. These Ancients are a powerful group of Sky Knights and even Marrshal has limited information on them, so as of now we cannot find any weaknesses to exploit. This means that we must overpower using brute force."

"That's where I come in right?" Snipe interjected suddenly, earning him a wrathful glare from everyone present.

"No, that's not where you come in… Instead, that's where these come in." Master Cyclonis continued, secure in the knowledge that Marrshal would be punishing Snipe in a few minutes. After waiting a second to build some dramatic suspense, she pulled a cloth off a small table next to her, revealing a phasing crystal along with five other red crystals that glowed with an odd light that shifted up and down the visible light spectrum. "Behold the Link Crystals, each one forged to connect each of you to me, allowing me to grant you a share of my abilities as well as remain in contact with me mentally should you so desire. With these crystals I will be able to grant you as many of my abilities as I desire when I desire to do so, this will hopefully offset the unique combat style of the Ancients and allow us to achieve victory over them."

"So do we just carry them with us then?" Ravess asked in a skeptical tone.

"No, which is why I brought a phasing crystal here, these crystals will be phased into you, thus preventing them from being damaged, destroyed or captured under most circumstances." Master Cyclonis said confidently as she held up the phase crystal, each of the Link crystals floating up into the air in perfect synchronization. However, before she could phase out the Link Crystals, Marrshal quickly shot in and grabbed the crystal intended for him.

"My apologies my lady, while the offer of such power is tempting, it is not necessary for my line of work and could indeed be a hindrance. While I will keep the crystal with me, I would request that you neither fuse it with me nor activate its full abilities." Marrshal explained quickly in a rueful tone.

"Very well, I will grant you that request, namely because I'm feeling generous right now… Are there any others who wish to follow Marrshal's example? No? Good, then let us proceed." Master Cyclonis continued in an understanding tone as she phased out the remaining Link Crystals, which then floated into the other commanders. As the crystals floated into each commander, nothing seemed to change with regards to their outward appearance, although Marrshal felt as if a sudden chill had descended on the room. Clearly this was an illusion crafted by his own mind at witnessing such an unnatural power in action.

"Go ahead commanders, test out your Link crystals and see how they work." Master Cyclonis encouraged. The first one to try out this link was evidently Night Aerrow, as his hair suddenly began to darken and his irises turned red, his overall appearance changing as he borrowed the power of Master Cyclonis.

"Fascinating…" Night Aerrow said as he pulled out one of the firebolt crystals that powered his energy swords. A moment passed and the crystal had transformed into a blizzard crystal before Night Aerrow transformed it back into a firebolt crystal. "I could get used to this kind of power…"

"Indeed." The Dark Ace agreed a few seconds later as he transformed one of his firebolt crystals into a shield crystal and back. "With this kind of power at our disposal, crushing Atmosia should be easy."

"That's the idea Dark Ace; I want as little chance of defeat as possible and no unnecessary risks taken. That is also why my Devastator will be going into battle; the Atmosians have nothing that can match the power of my vessel and I intend to make full use of that fact. Marrshal, how much longer until the remaining ships in our fleet arrive and who are we still waiting on?"

"Two destroyers and five frigates have yet to arrive and, although they should be here by mid-day tomorrow, their delay will give the Atmosians time to realize that our defenses are weak. With the threat of an impending assault on Atmosia itself, they likely will not take advantage of this information seeing as they need every available Sky Knight to defend their capital. Nonetheless, it is something we need to be aware of."

"If all goes as planned, it won't be an issue." Master Cyclonis said confidently as she walked back to her throne and took her seat. "That is all for now commanders, make sure you take care of any remaining business before the assault tomorrow, I want everything to be perfect for the fall of Atmosia. Marrshal, you stay, I have a matter I wish to discuss with you."

"As you wish." Marrshal said as the other commanders left. Once they had all left, she turned to face her spymaster.

"Now then, earlier today you mentioned that you had seen a suspicious looking Talon? I would like a full report, seeing as I know what happens to people you think are suspicious." Master Cyclonis said in a serious tone.

"It turns out he was one of the few Merb Sky Knights, from the Shadowed Peak squadron. They are skilled in covert operations, he was sent here at the behest of the Sky Knight Council to finally eliminate any and all rogue Sky Knights who may be in the service of Cyclonia."

"So how many others are there likely to be?"

"There are three members of the Shadowed Peak squadron, but only one, their Sky Knight, has the skills necessary for an assassination attempt, the other two are more skilled at reconnaissance and sabotage. They are not likely to be here, since the task required of them would be outside their area of expertise. The only exception might be the munitions expert who would try to destroy whatever vessel they might be flying. He will be caught if he is on this terra however, rest assured in that fact."

"Excellent, proceed then and make sure you are ready for the attack on Atmosia tomorrow."

"Not to worry, I will be."


	27. Chapter 27

**Darkening Skies: Death of a Dream**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 6**

Piper hurried quietly through the empty halls of the Council building on Atmosia, eager to return to the Condor and prepare for the assault heading for Atmosia this very minute as confirmed by advance scouts. At least a good number of her preparations had been completed; all civilians had been evacuated to the mining terra which was to serve as a fallback position in case they failed here. The Sky Knights who had agreed to take place in the ambushes were in position and well hidden so that any vanguard for the Cyclonian force would not spot them. A number of other surprises had been prepared for the approaching army and, per battle strategy; the Ancients were to form the initial defense line to break the momentum of the assault. It would be a difficult battle even if everything went perfectly and that meant she had only a few minutes to reach the Condor and prepare her Heliscooter for the battle to come. She was so preoccupied with running through her list of battle preparations that she did not even notice the knife flying through the air at her until it buried its sharp end deep in the wall to her left. Quickly whirling toward the source of the knife, Piper instinctively dropped into a Sky-Fu battle stance as she pulled out her staff. To her surprise, she found a tall hooded and cloaked figure standing across the hall from her idly playing with a knife that was oddly familiar.

"You seemed so preoccupied and I do hate to do something as dishonorable as attack someone who is off their guard." The figure said, tossing his blade into the air and catching it while slipping into a battle stance. The voice seemed somehow familiar…

"Shar?" Piper hazarded, unsure since it had been such a long time since they had last encountered the traitorous kid.

"Not quite…" the figure said, his voice suddenly sounding like Nimbus, that Sky Knight who had been captured during the Sky Knight's counter attack on the mining terra.

"Shar and Nimbus are the same person?" Piper asked, trying to overcome her confusion. This made no sense, Shar and Nimbus had looked nothing alike. Unless the Shar disguise had been created using a cloaking crystal and his actual identity was Nimbus.

"Correct, Shar was me." Nimbus said as he slowly began circling around to attack Piper, drawing out several more knives as he did so. "It was quite easy to fool you all into thinking that you could trust Nimbus by making you believe Shar was the real threat. Unfortunately for you, Master Cyclonis has ordered that any threats to her invasion of Atmosia must be terminated. Since you are the one in charge of tactical coordination for this terra right now, that means you must be eliminated…"

"Good luck trying." Piper retorted as she leapt at her opponent, jabbing forward with the end of her staff to drive it into Nimbus's chest and knock the wind out of him. However, her opponent neatly sidestepped the blow and slashed his oddly glowing knife downward, neatly cutting off four inches from the end nearest to him. It looked like she would not make it to the Condor in time after all Piper reflected as Nimbus whirled toward her, forcing her to dodge under the deadly arcs of energy created by his blade. Hopefully the other Sky Knights would be able to carry out the defense plan without her since fights with this freak generally took awhile if Starling's reports were accurate.

"Where is Piper?" Starling asked as the other Storm Hawks hurried to prepare their skimmers for the upcoming battle. "She was supposed to have been here by now."

"Don't worry, she probably just got held up with some last minute questions or something." Finn said in a serious tone, which was normally an oddity for him but was becoming more commonplace these days. Starling had to admit that she missed the old Finn; especially since this change had probably been the result of the loss of Aerrow, a fate no one should have to suffer. With any luck though, this battle would be a turning point, Piper's strategy was definitely good enough, provided she were here to get the timing down right. If not, Starling knew she could still handle the plan since she and Piper had reviewed it enough, but she was not quite as proficient as Piper would be in the execution.

"I hope you're right." Starling murmured to herself as she finished her inspection of her own ride. There was something suspicious about this, but the Storm Hawks could not afford to abandon the battle for the sake of finding one missing member of their crew. Then again, if Finn was correct, it would be inadvisable to simply take off without Piper. "We should leave her Heliscooter on the terra rather than here in the hanger, that way she can join the battle when able. Junko, could you please carry her ride outside?"

"Sure, just a second." Junko replied as he locked a missile into its launcher before walking over and hefting the heavy vehicle onto his shoulders and carrying it down one of the boarding ramps to the terra outside. As he returned a couple minutes later, a rally call suddenly rang out, indicating that the Cyclonians were within visual range of Atmosia.

Around then, carrier after carrier began to lift off as the Sky Knights assembled headed for the soon to be embattled skies of Atmosia. A few seconds later and Starling felt a vibration run through the deck plates beneath her feet, a sure sign that the Condor had launched as well. It seemed that the battle for Terra Atmosia had begun at last…

Mirs stood confidently on the bridge of the Ancients carrier, his hands inserted into two crystalline pillars that jutted up from the floor of the carrier's bridge and served as the control interface for the vessel. Two other Ancients stood beside him, their main purpose to monitor the carrier's systems and communicate his orders to the Ancients manning the guns. Before him, the entire front of the spherical bridge has been replaced with specially modified shield crystal, altered to be completely transparent by some ancient technology that had been lost during the cataclysm which had claimed their terra. Eventually they would find it again, but for now it remained lost and the window provided a decent view of the battlefield before him while sacrificing nothing in the way of protection. While such a window would normally provide an unhindered view of the sky in front of the carrier, the scene was blocked by the three large pylons that made up the main mass of the carrier. Each pylon was essentially a narrowed tetrahedron with one of its flat sides facing the spherical bridge and one vertex pointing forward. Along the center line of the sides facing the bridge was a strip of golden crystal underlain with a smaller line of white crystal, while the two long sides that faced outward were studded with a total of eighteen gun emplacements, each manned by an Ancient. The rear-facing side of each tetrahedral pylon sported a hanger bay door and an engine. The interior of each pylon contained the hangers and drive assemblies for the carrier, as well as living quarters for the Ancients. Right now, Mirs knew that the other Ancients were down in the hanger preparing their craft for the battle to come, they would be launching any moment now. At that thought, he leaned to the Ancient off to his right.

"Are they launching yet?" he asked quietly as he carefully moved his right index finger to correct for a sudden gust of wind.

"Vespos confirms that they are in the process of launching as we speak." The communications officer replied after she conferred with their leader, "He says that you may fire when ready."

"Excellent." Mirs said as he stood up straight again and looked at the approaching Cyclonian fleet. "Our first target shall be the cruiser on the far right flank of their armada. They are not likely to have any command personal onboard, so since we do not want to harm Aerrow, it is the safest target." He continued as he closed his eyes in concentration. A moment later and a brilliant burst of energy flashed down through the control pillars, reappearing seconds later as the strips of golden crystal on the pylons illuminated.

"Lance of the Ancients, strike true." Mirs said as the glow from the strips intensified.

With little preamble or warning, the battlefield suddenly was illuminated by a beam of golden light that erupted from the space in-between the pylons of the Ancients' carrier. The beam traversed the battlefield in an instant, smashing into the bow shields of the intended destroyer and tearing through them in an instant. A moment more and the beam blasted out the rear of the doomed Cyclonian vessel, shattering the stern into thousands of metal fragments due to the concussion of the blast. Dozens of Talons who had no been driven out the back of the vessel by the bolt of force leapt free of the ship as its remains began their descent into the Wastelands below. Deploying their parachutes in time to avoid sharing a similar fate. Many of the Talons that had been blown out of the destroyer by the beam were quickly scooped up by nearby comrades who had been luckier in their fate. A second later though, it was revealed that they had perhaps not been so lucky as the weapon of the Ancients had over-powered every crystal onboard the destroyer and they exploded simultaneously, vaporizing the falling remains of the ship. Whereas the actual shot itself had been relatively quiet, this explosion blasted out a massive wave of sound, shattering the windows of the nearby destroyers and frigates and sending many Talons careening through the sky on their Switchblades. On the curtails of this impressive opening shot, the mounted Ancients swept in, taking advantage of the chaos to inflict as much damage on the right flank as possible.

As the sonic boom rippled across the terra, Marrshal looked up in surprise, he had not known that the Ancients possessed such a powerful weapon in their arsenal, perhaps this battle would not be so easy to win after all.

"Gotcha!" Piper cried in triumph as she dove in to take advantage of his lowered guard. To her surprise though, Nimbus shot out a hand and grabbed her incoming attack, the strength of his grip halting her momentum almost instantly. With an ominous glare in his eyes, he looked back to Piper, allowing her to see his face for the first time during this fight. An inhuman smile twisted his mouth as Nimbus pulled several needles out of his robe's sleeves.

"I see that you do not extend the same courtesy to me that I extended to you. Oh well, this fight is no longer just for fun, prepare yourself for the end." He said in a chilling voice as he threw the needles point blank at Piper's heart. Already recognizing the danger before he threw the needles at her, Piper easily dodged out of the way, planting her staff firmly on the floor to catapult her up into the air and put extra distance between herself and Nimbus. As she landed gracefully, she was quickly forced to dodge backwards as her opponent quickly dashed in, slashing back and forth with his blade. With a kind of fluid grace Nimbus turned an upward cut into a leap into the air that took him over Piper to land in her path, lifting one foot up with the obvious intent to stomp on her. However, Piper terminated her dodge prematurely by planting her staff into the floor and using it to reverse her momentum. Just as she managed to get out of the way, Nimbus slammed his foot down, the impact shattering the flagstones underneath.

"No way you're human." Piper said in astonishment as Nimbus casually shook the stone dust off his foot, "You would have at least broken your foot with that strike otherwise."

"My dear, you have far more pressing matters to attend to." Nimbus said as he came at her again with a flying butterfly kick. As Piper dodged below the strike, Nimbus shifted his momentum and brought the kick down into a crippling kick straight into the floor, shattering more stone. Luckily for Piper, her dodge had been quick enough that he had missed, although he had nearly grazed her ear. Using her dodge for momentum, Piper quickly spun around and down, her leg sweeping out to knock Nimbus off his feet when he landed. To her surprise though, Nimbus was spry enough on his feet to launch himself backward using only the one foot he had on the ground at the time. From his aerial vantage point, he threw several more needles at her, forcing Piper to roll off to one side. As she finished her roll, she quickly sprang up into a fighting stance, using this pause in the fight to idly wonder why no one had happened upon their battle yet. Even with all the Sky Knights engaged in the defense of the terra and the civilians evacuated, there were still some minor bureaucrats left to make sure that administrative business ran smoothly.

"You are wondering why no one has happened upon our battle are you not?" Nimbus asked suddenly, breaking her train of thought, "If it will put your mind at ease, I already took care of them, they will awake here in a couple hours to find the terra under Cyclonian management."

"Don't be so quick to claim victory, especially since one of your destroyers just went bye-bye." Piper shot back as she charged forward, whirling her staff in one hand while preparing to jab with the other. Nimbus stood in her path calmly, pulling out another spread of assassin needles as she quickly drew closer. Rather than get too close however, Piper brought her staff around in a vicious swing to knock Nimbus into a nearby wall as she slid in to kick his feet out from under him. The man anticipated her move however and threw one handful of needles into the floor joints, halting Piper prematurely and causing her swing to come up short by catching her forward foot.

"Do not assume that your plan will go perfectly either… You have no idea of the true scope of the forces arrayed against you here." Nimbus said calmly as he casually strode forward, bringing his other handful of needles up near his ear in preparation to throw them at Piper's vital areas. "Your world as you know it will cease to exist, this much is certain, do not fool yourself into thinking otherwise. And in the end, Atmos will be better for it: no more fighting between terras, everything controlled by Master Cyclonis. It really will not be as bad as you think; do you not remember your time spent in Cyclonia a few months back? That can be how this world will be rebuilt, unless you decide to continue this fruitless struggle."

"Don't pretend Cyclonia is some kind of benevolent empire, you're not fooling anyone." Piper said as she kicked off of the needles that had blocked her foot and scrambled back up into a fighting stance. The man had wasted a perfect opportunity to finish her, why had he not done so? Particularly since he had said that he intended to do so. Maybe this was just a game to him and he was playing her like he had before, if that was the case, she needed to end this fight before he became bored and decided to fulfill his promises.

Noticing that Piper was back on her feet and fully ready to fight again, Marrshal suppressed a sinister smile. From her expression he could tell that she was debating why he had not finished her off right then and there when he had trapped her foot. The simple fact was that he could not do so; unlike most of his weapons, these needles had no poison on them, they were effectively harmless unless they hit a vital area. True, he could use his Oblivion Dagger, but Master Cyclonis still hoped to convert Piper to their cause and killing her would be counter-productive to the fulfillment of those plans. Besides, she did not realize the true purpose behind these needles he was throwing out. By the time she did, it would be too late. With that cheery thought, Marrshal dodged out of the way of Piper's initial strike and whirled around to arm bar her across the back, adding to her momentum and sending her stumbling down the hall. Her skill in Sky Fu was excellent for one so young, but Marrshal had trained in martial arts for many years so he would be able to defend himself if it came to that. Over the past few months, his training had been particularly intense in preparation for this offensive, so he was finally guaranteed a victory against Snipe in normal combat. The art of sky dueling was just the one aspect of fighting that continually remained beyond his grasp, probably since he did so little of it. His internal monologue was interrupted by a renewed assault from Piper, who had practically turned into a whirling dervish of kicks and punches in her desire to hit him. Realizing it was too dangerous to stay near her; Marrshal leapt backward and threw several full spreads of needles at Piper, who easily deflected the ones headed for her with her staff. Only now did Marrshal allow himself to smile in victory, it was time. With a slight jerk of both arms, needle launchers in his sleeves launched an additional spread of needles into the walls around them, snapping taunt the wires that linked these new needles and the ones he had previously thrown. Piper would suddenly find herself caught in a web of tripwires that would make it nearly impossible for her to move without being ensnared by the wires. Her staff would be of little use, there was no room for her build up the momentum she would need to break the wires before they caught her staff. It would be some time before she escaped, Marrshal assured himself as he walked off down the hall towards the libraries where Atmosia kept their records. After all, he had more objectives than just annoying Piper.

Starling executed a quick barrel-roll to avoid the incoming blast from Aerrow as the fallen Sky Knight chased her through the battle zone, intent on making her his next victim. Which really was fine with her, as long as he was chasing her, Aerrow would not shoot down any other Sky Knights. Not to mention she could lead him right into the trap that Piper had planned for him if he followed her just a second or two longer… With a sudden jerk, Starling drove her sky ride down through the swarming vehicles that wove through the battle area, finally pulling up after she dove through a ring of Ancients who were waiting to capture Aerrow. Confident in their ability to handle the wayward Knight, Starling climbed back up into the main areas of battle to engage the Talons.

Night Aerrow realized it was a trap too late to avoid being surrounded by the Ancients, but he was not so slow as to go down without a fight. He quickly leapt up on his Switchblade, pulling out his swords as he did so, and turned to face the Ancient leader, who was off to his left.

"So, once again we meet on the field of battle…" Night Aerrow said confidently as he pointed one of his blades at the cloaked figure, "This time will be much different from last time however, even though my training hasn't probably fully prepared me to fight you."

"Enough, submit to us so we may purify you of the influence of Master Cyclonis." Vespos responded as the Ancients pointed their swords at Night Aerrow, "You have three seconds to comply."

"Why wait?" Night Aerrow responded snidely as he leapt up to perform his Lightning Claw. The Ancients saw this coming however and, as one, slashed their swords upward, creating wide arcs of energy that sped toward Night Aerrow. Seeing them coming, he could not help but grin as he activated his Link Crystal and absorbed some of Master Cyclonis's power. He quickly transformed his firebolt crystal and swept his blade downward, blocking the incoming assault with a powerful shield crystal before turning it back. As he landed on his skimmer once more, he stood up and glared at Vespos with red eyes, revealing his transforming status to the Ancient.

"So, it has happened, you have merged your powers with those of Cyclonis." Vespos said quietly as he leveled his weapon at Night Aerrow, "You have become one of the abominations. Ancients, we can hold back no longer: capture him if we can, slay him if we must."

"I don't think so." Night Aerrow retorted as he fired an arc of icy energy at Vespos. The Ancient leapt out of the way and spun through the air to land on Night Aerrow's Switchblade. However, as soon as he did so, Night Aerrow swung toward him and blasted him off the Switchblade with a gust of wind from a wind crystal. Rather than fall however, the Ancient used his wind crystal to fly back toward Aerrow, quickly spinning around as he did so to send massive waves of energy at his opponent. Night Aerrow reacted quickly and smirked at Vespos as the waves broke upon a shield which sprang to life around him and his Switchblade. To one to admit defeat so easily however, Vespos gestured with his sword and the remnants of crystal energy floating around Night Aerrow coalesced into a single lance of energy. Quickly swinging his sword through it before the energy could dissipate further, Vespos slammed his empowered sword into the shield protecting Night Aerrow. To Night Aerrow's amazement, the impact actually sent shockwaves through his shield.

"This power does not come from yourself, and because of that your skills are weak." Vespos declared righteously as he began to slide his sword through Night Aerrow's protective barrier.

"I'll show you how weak my skills are." Night Aerrow said as he transformed his crystal yet again, dodging away from the coming attack as his shield dissolved. "Now disappear!" he shouted as he swung at Vespos, sending a sphere of black energy spinning at the Ancient. Vespos quickly dodged, but was not quite fast enough to prevent the sphere from disintegrating the very edge of his cloak. Immediately seeing that their leader could be in trouble, the remaining Ancients leapt into battle, firing various energy blasts as precursors to enhanced physical strikes. Night Aerrow's responsive shield was enough to block the strikes that he was not able to dodge; however, Vespos had a plan of his own. Quickly flying up behind Night Aerrow, he energized his sword and drove his blade into the already weakened shield. Taken by surprise, Night Aerrow was unable to react in time as the Ancient's sword pierced his barrier and stabbed through one of his swords at the hilt, destroying the blade. In retaliation, he brought his other blade around and discharged an energy blast straight into the Ancient's chest, only to have the blast dissipate off some form of armor the man was wearing. Still, the impact was enough to send the man flying, although Night Aerrow grimaced when he gazed at his broken blade. Then a thought occurred to him and he grinned as he contacted Master Cyclonis.

Master Cyclonis steadied herself as a shot from one of the carriers penetrated the shields of the destroyer she was on and blasted out a section of the hull. The battle was not going as well as anticipated, what with the Ancients first shot destroying an entire destroyer. Unfortunately, even without their main weapon able to fire again, the powerful shields and weapons their carrier possessed made it possible for them to at least match a normal destroyer in ship-to-ship combat. In addition, the Talons were slowly being routed by the sheer number of Sky Knights present in the battle. A few minutes ago, additional Sky Knight reinforcements had cruised in from various hidden locations on the terra. The only good news was that her commanders seemed to be holding their own in combat, thanks in part to the Link Crystals. True, Night Aerrow had just requested greater power a few seconds ago, but given that he was fighting the Ancients that was no surprise. If something did not happen to change the situation soon, it was likely that Cyclonia would not prevail here. Fortunately, she and Marrshal had already foreseen that something like this could happen and had made plans accordingly.

"Captain, maintain this position, I'll return with a little surprise for these fools." Master Cyclonis suddenly announced as she turned to leave. The time was right to reveal her flagship, the trump card that would tip the battle in their favor… well, that and the Talon infiltration force she had sent on ahead to set up anti-air cannons on Atmosia.

Night Aerrow quickly dodged out of the way of a series of concerted attacks by the Ancients, using his restored twin swords to block the strikes that came too close for comfort. Ever since he had used Master Cyclonis's powers to repair his broken blade the Ancients had redoubled their efforts to defeat him, likely because they knew he was gaining power. His blades were now armed with a pure firebolt crystal and a pure shield crystal, a necessity considering the amount of energy the Ancients were throwing at him. The Ancients, for their part, had left their skimmers a few seconds ago, instead using their wind crystals to fly about him, allowing them to attack from every conceivable angle with relative ease. There were at least thirty of them attacking him, were it not for the power provided through his Link Crystal, they would have defeated him easily by now.

"Well Night Aerrow, it looks like you've gotten yourself into quite the predicament." The voice of the Dark Ace suddenly sounded from behind him, causing him to spin around to find the source of the voice.

"How did you get here?" Night Aerrow asked as he saw the Dark Ace standing on the tail end of his skimmer.

"Master Cyclonis can teleport, have you forgotten that?" the Dark Ace replied in a reproachful tone, "Now hurry up and request it from her so we can make short work of these opponents, the Devastator will be arriving any time and we don't want their gunners to claim much credit for the victory do we?"

"Those lazy gunners? Not a chance in the Atmos." Night Aerrow said as he was granted the ability to teleport from Master Cyclonis. With a malicious smile on his face, Night Aerrow vanished in a flash, followed by the Dark Ace a moment later.

Above the former position of the Cyclonian commanders, Vespos watched in amazement as they both vanished. He had not known that Cyclonis could teleport, this was not a good development, a feeling that was compounded a moment later as the siege cannons on Atmosia opened fire, catching several Sky Knights and a few Talons off guard and sending their skimmers down in pieces. Just then, Night Aerrow appeared behind him, knocking the Ancient leader backwards with a powerful energy blast. However, Vespos recovered quickly and fired back with his Stellar Cross Sky Knight Move, the lance of energy just barely missing Aerrow's shoulder. Eager not to lose the initiative again, Vespos held his sword in front of him as a shield, a brilliant white aura sheathing the blade as he did so. Having prepared his blade, he quickly whirled in a circle, his blade leaving several 'afterimages' as he did so. When he reached his original position, the 'illusionary' energy blades swung up to form an eight-pointed star around him. He quickly swung his blade at night Aerrow, the energy blades arcing out in a long loop to slash against Aerrow's guard, battering him backward and down as Vespos charged in to deliver the final blow with his powered up sword. However, just before he reached his target, Aerrow vanished in a flash and Vespos whirled around in time to block the rear attack. With a gesture, he sent the energy blades flying toward Aerrow once more, but this time they formed a circle around the fallen Sky Knight and the Ancient. Acting quickly, Vespos created a shield around himself and then brought his sword downward, an action which prompted the blades to detonate into a spray of smaller energy lances. As his eyes recovered from the spectacular light show, he suppressed a groan of disappointment; Aerrow had already transformed both of his blade crystals into shield crystals, allowing him to block the assault. As the shield faded due to the transformation of his crystals back to their normal states, Aerrow looked up at the Ancient leader.

"Time for you to fall." He said darkly as suddenly a massive vessel appeared in the skies over Atmosia, "Master Cyclonis's Devastator has arrived and with it, this battle will end very quickly." Vespos had to admit that it was a strong possibility, since the Lance would not be able to penetrate the shields on that monstrosity, he could sense their power even from this distance; his conclusion was validated a second later as the Lance of the Ancients struck true against the shields of the vessel but did not penetrate. Still, despite the odds against them, he would not give up, if they could only delay until Piper arrived with her paralysis crystals to stun Aerrow into submission. Although from the number of Sky Knights taken out by the vessel's initial volley, she would need to arrive in the next minute or two at most.

His musings came to an end a second later as Night Aerrow attacked, pummeling him with a barrage of red energy bolts. Vespos simply held his sword in a vertical position with the point down, shifting the hilt from side to block off-center shots, doing his best to make it look as if this were the easiest thing in the world. Such an apparent attitude might enrage Aerrow, causing him to make a mistake that the Ancients could exploit. Suddenly however, Aerrow slammed him backwards with a blast of wind, sending Vespos hurdling backwards until his own wind crystal was able to bring him to a halt. Meanwhile, Aerrow had dropped back down to his skimmer and teleported once more to engage another Ancient in battle. Vespos immediately headed for his embattled comrade only to find his path blocked by the Dark Ace.

"I'm offended that you don't seem to consider me a threat, always sending your subordinates to fight me rather than dueling me yourself." The commander said as he pointed his double bladed sword at Vespos to emphasize his point.

"My apologies, allow me to make up for my prior rudeness." Vespos replied as he swung his sword at the Dark Ace, sending a massive arc of seething energy hurtling at the man opposing him. The Dark Ace acted quickly, diving below the energy wave before activating his glider and shooting back up to face Vespos, stabbing forward simultaneously in one smooth motion. Vespos countered by parrying the thrust off to one side, sending the Dark Ace flying past. However, the Dark Ace recovered quickly and hooked his leg around to kick Vespos in the side, partially knocking the wind out of the Ancient and allowing the Dark Ace to seize the initiative with a sudden flurry of stabs which Vespos managed to hold off. The Dark Ace moved in for a repeat performance, but the Ancient had made good use in the initial assault and the sudden coalescence of a shield forced the Dark Ace's blade to deflect up off the domed barrier. Caught off balance, the Dark Ace was barely able to avoid Vespos's counterstrike by rotating his body out of the way. As he rotated however, Vespos's strike caused the shield to break into shards of energy, and the Dark Ace had to fire his jets to shoot him off to the side and avoid being cut to ribbons by the swarm of energy blades. The Ancient responded with a quick sword swing to ensure the fragments followed the Cyclonian commander; but just as he was about to catch the man, a massive barrage of energy tore through the area as the Devastator turned its attention to the only remaining hotspot of fighting, having already broken up the dogfights elsewhere. A second later, another barrage of fire from the terra below signaled that the anti-air weaponry had also shifted their aim to target the Ancients.

Realizing the battle was lost, Vespos shot back to where his skimmer had been floating and quickly climbing aboard, signaling to the other Ancients that they needed to retreat. Something had clearly gone wrong, Piper was supposed to have brought them the paralysis crystals as soon as she fought her way to them since she had needed to retrieve them from one of the emergency crystal stores on Atmosia.

Piper groused quietly to herself as she tripped over another thread, getting herself tangled in at least a dozen more as a result. This infernal net that Nimbus had set up was taking forever to get out of, she was glad that she had left the paralysis crystals on the bridge of the Condor where Starling would hopefully see them. True, she had not been able to get the crystals to the Ancients before they had needed to take up their position, but at least this way someone could get them to the Ancients and they would be able to rescue Aerrow from Master Cyclonis. If only things had not been so pressed for time, she would have been able to get the crystals to them before they left, but the thought had not even occurred to her until last night. In hindsight, it seemed so stupid that she had not thought of the paralysis crystals previously, even with everything she needed to plan and supervise she should have realized that paralysis crystals would make capturing Aerrow much easier.

Finally untangling herself from the last remaining wires that made up the web, she dashed down the now empty hall, determined to get to her ride before the battle was completely over with. Nimbus, wherever he had gone to, would have to wait; one man could not take priority over an entire attack force.

Marrshal idly wandered around in the main library of Atmosia, content in the knowledge that he had accomplished all of his objectives. As he wandered, he pulled out the bag of paralysis crystals that he had stolen from the Condor this morning. The Storm Hawks could be so predictable sometimes, but their determination to rescue their friend was commendable, if it would not make his job more difficult he would probably let them know that he respected that determination. Still, he had to keep up appearances… and speaking of appearances, it looked like the battle outside was almost over, especially since he could see the Dark Ace and Night Aerrow driving back the Ancients. That little victory there was no doubt thanks to his machinations and Master Cyclonis's Link Crystals as well as the skill of the two Cyclonian commanders. The thought occurred to him that he should go and make sure Piper escaped, but she was a skilled opponent, she had undoubtedly already escaped and would make it off the terra with the rest of the Sky Knights who made it through this battle.

"Retreat! Retreat!" Starling called out as she raced through the tattered Sky Knight lines. With the arrival of that massive Cyclonian destroyer, the tide of battle had quite suddenly shifted against them and, though they could continue fighting, they could not win caught as they were between the siege cannons below and that aerial fortress above. Already they had lost nearly sixty percent of their fighting force, which while each Sky Knight had taken down several Talons each, the overwhelming size of the Cyclonian force left them with around seventy-five percent of their effective strength. It made no sense to continue wasting their forces here when the Cyclonians could rally another army to come in and smash the remnants if they lost. Besides, the arrival of the massive vessel had already prompted a good number of the remaining Sky Knights to flee. To their credit though, Repton and the Raptors had remained in the fight this entire time and only now were breaking out of the engagement zone. After warning the last few remaining Sky Knights, Starling herself headed for the Condor for transport out of the battle zone, the other Storm Hawks minus Piper already being on board. Unfortunately, with the terra in Cyclonian hands already, it was likely that Piper had been captured Starling thought to herself as she landed in the Condor's hanger. Quickly dismounting, she hurried up to the bridge and ordered Stork to take them to their fallback position, sadly looking back at what had once been the capital of Free Atmos.


	28. Chapter 28

**Darkening Skies: Death of a Dream**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 7**

Master Cyclonis walked into the chambers that the Sky Knight Council had formerly used, happy beyond words at their success in capturing the administrative capital of the Free Atmos. True, they had taken fairly high casualties, but no one could argue with the results, Atmosia was hers and the protective reign of the Sky Knights had been broken. Some of the Sky Knights had escaped she knew, and according to Marrshal they had gathered on the mining terra, likely to perform some sort of last stand or some other heroic cliché. Marrshal was already busy thinking up some strategy that would allow them to take the terra, but by his own admission it would be difficult since the terra still had its previous defenses and the previous routes in were now blocked. It was likely they would have to go into the battle blind and without any covert support. She was not pleased about that possibility, but there were ways around it, particularly considering her newfound abilities.

"Marrshal!" she yelled, knowing that the spymaster would hear her and show up within the next few minutes. Exactly two minutes later, her conclusions were borne out as the cloaked form of the commander emerged from one of the shadows in the corner of the room.

"You summoned me, my lady." Marrshal stated rather than asked since the answer would be obvious to all.

"I want to know how long we have until we have secured the remaining terras and can begin our push on the mining terra." Master Cyclonis said as she examined the podium where the Council once sat while performing their duties.

"It could be a week or more, there are a number of terras that still remain free of Cyclonian presence. They may not be united in their stand against us as the Knights here were, but it will still take time to properly subjugate them. On that note however, many of the Sky Knights may flee to the mining terra to participate in the final defense. The terras we have already conquered are already being properly garrisoned with a Talon garrison and portal crystals to allow us quick response time should anyone resist. Are there any other orders my lady?" Marrshal elaborated, checking his notepad before each statement.

"Yes, I have decided that Night Aerrow will rule over the former Atmosian terras, I want an appropriately defended citadel built here to serve as his headquarters. Make sure you get any recommendations from him as well before construction begins."

"Yes my lady; that should be quite the blow to the morale of any resistance groups that might spring up after the Sky Knights are crushed. Speaking of crushing, your old friend is still here on Atmosia…"

"You mean Piper? What is she still doing here; I thought she would have escaped when the other Sky Knights fled."

"Yes well, it appears that our takeover cut her off from her Heliscooter."

"Excellent, make sure you capture her before she can escape, I want my friend back. Not to mention that she is the only one who might be able to figure out a way to undo what I've done to Aerrow. Well, the only one who believes he's being forced to do this anyways…"

Piper cautiously snuck a glance around the corner to check if any Talons were in the hallway ahead, relieved to find it devoid of any life whatsoever. As soon as she had realized that the invading Talons had cut her off from her only escape route, she had immediately gone into hiding. Especially since it would not the Talons long to figure out whose Heliscooter they had found and Master Cyclonis would undoubtedly want to use those accursed psychic crystals on her again. Not a fate she wanted to suffer again, especially since she could use this as an opportunity to find out how Cyclonis had subverted Aerrow in the first place, not to mention how Cyclonis had found these crystals to begin with. This information could very well be the key that needed to turn the tide of this war in their favor…


	29. Knightfall

**Darkening Skies: Knightfall**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 1**

Various personnel rushed past Starling, each hurrying to attend to their own specific duties ranging from preparing the terra's defenses to getting the refugees from other terras situated in their temporary living quarters. All told, they had more Sky Knights here then they had been able to deploy at the Atmosian battle two days ago, although it probably would not be enough if the Cyclonians attacked in force. Still, more Sky Knights arrived every day, forced to flee their home terras in the wake of the Cyclonian juggernaut, by the time Master Cyclonis turned her attention to the mining terra there might be enough Knights here to repel any attack. Even so, there would not be enough Sky Knights here to launch a counter-offensive without the risk of losing this one safe haven. The concept of spending the rest of her days here on this rocky terra was unpleasant at best, Sky Knights were meant to soar through the open skies, not linger on some lonesome spire of rock and stone. At that thought Starling shook her head violently, that sort of dramatic poise was more along the lines of Stork's repertoire of expressions. Considering the events of the past few days though… but it was best not to dwell on such things right now, especially considering that she was now considered the impromptu leader of the Sky Knights, with Harrier, Aerrow and Piper all missing or otherwise unable to be present. There was still some hope that Piper might escape from occupied Atmosia, although every day that passed dimmed that hope more…

Piper casually marched down the hall, making sure to keep her face pointed straight ahead while her eyes roved about, hidden behind the red goggles that Talons typically wore. She had managed to acquire the uniform from a storage closet, hoping that none of the Talons would report it as missing; although that probably was not an issue, given the incompetence of most Talons. Now she just had to wait for her chance to investigate and after two days she had gotten a pretty good idea as to how the guard rotation worked, particularly since she was part of it and could look at the assignment sheet whenever she wanted.

Today she was assigned to patrol the west wing of the Council building on Atmosia and her current location afforded her a great view of the structure being built here. Using the Beacon Tower as the central spire, the Cyclonians were building some type of massive citadel and, although Piper was not entirely sure what its purpose might be; she was fairly certain that it had something to do with securing Cyclonians dominance over the terra. It was of little import currently, although she would need to secure blueprints of the fortress for later analysis since they would eventually have to go up against the defenses it presented. She quietly rounded another corner in the hall to find two Talons standing guard beside one of the doors leading to one of the private studies for the Cyclonian occupation leaders. According to the schedule, the owner of this particular study was out for the day, meaning that the Talons were expected to check the status of the study every so often. As the one assigned to patrol this wing today, Piper was expected to look in on the study. With a quick salute to the Talons standing guard outside the door leading into the room beyond, Piper walked in, expecting to find the room empty.

Instead, she was surprised to find Nimbus standing amidst the stacks of books in the room, his cloaked form hunched over a book that he was holding. At Piper's entrance, he looked up at her and set the book down on a nearby stack.

"My apologies, Talon, I will just see myself out." Nimbus said as he walked toward Piper.

"No problem sir." Piper said, recovering from her surprise quickly. Of all the people to run into, she would just happen to run into Nimbus, one of the few people on this terra who could identify her by sight. Still, if she just played her part well enough, there would not be a problem. "Although I might ask what you're doing here, considering that this study is not assigned to you on the room assignment sheet."

"Ah, but it is, my name is simply not recorded on the room assignments. Still, you are more observant than the typical Talon, few look at that ridiculous sheet and fewer still would recognize that I am supposedly not allowed in here. Come to think of it, I can always use a few more observant Talons… Tell you what, if you would like a promotion, meet me in the library at the end of your shift and I will give you more power than you ever imagined yourself having." Nimbus continued, his expression telling Piper that he did not recognize her.

"Yes sir!" Piper responded enthusiastically, trying to maintain her appearance as an eager young Talon while still covering her inner unease. How would she get out of this? Even if Nimbus did not recognize her, meeting with him would delay her from her other goals… then again, this could be an unparalleled opportunity. Nimbus was a spy for Cyclonia, so he would undoubtedly have access to all kinds of information relating to Cyclonian operations. She could not afford to pass this opportunity up, despite the risks of recognition; to say nothing of the fact that if she never showed up, Nimbus would have her hunted down and she would never be able to acquire any of the information she needed.

Several hours later, Piper quietly entered the empty library of the Council Halls, looking around carefully to make sure this was not a trap.

"Your reconnaissance is prudent, but you will not find anyone else here." Nimbus said suddenly as he appeared in the reception area of the library, "I am the only one besides you who knew of this meeting."

"Yes sir." Piper said in a cautious voice.

"Of course, it is understandable that you would be so cautious, particularly considering that you likely suspect me of recognizing you. Consider your fears validated." Nimbus said in an off-hand tone. Piper immediately dropped into a battle stance, prompting an exasperated sigh from Nimbus, "Fret not, I have no intention of harming you, my master would be most displeased if anything happened to you."

"You won't take me without a fight." Piper countered pointing her Talon crystal staff menacingly at Nimbus.

"If that is your wish… No, no, I will not capture you today. Instead, let us sit down and have a little talk, after all, you have many questions and it would be cruel of me to deprive you of the answers you seek." Nimbus said as he quietly took a seat at one of the library tables, "Please, relax, no harm will come to you, at least not while we are talking here."

Suspicious of Nimbus's motives, but feeling as though she had little choice in the matter, Piper quietly took a seat across and diagonal from the traitorous spy. After all, he probably could call in reinforcements easily enough so she might as well play along. For his part, Nimbus seemed relatively calm, despite the fact that he was essentially committing treason by defying a direct order from Master Cyclonis. As Piper settled in her seat, Nimbus brought out his knife and laid it on the table, explaining it as a gesture of good faith. Piper did not buy that for a moment, particularly since she knew the man likely had numerous other knives hidden on his person.

"Now then, the first question you have is probably relating to what happened to your dear boyfriend Aerrow. Yes, I do happen to know that you two started dating shortly before his defection to Cyclonia. You of course also have questions about me and the numerous crystals Cyclonia now employs as well as numerous other topics. I am happy to answer most of your questions, so ask as you wish."

"Actually, I have a better question: why are you helping me in the first place?" Piper asked in a skeptical tone.

"An excellent question, but my reasons are my own. Take it as you will, I could be doing this because I am actually on your side or maybe I have my own agenda, maybe this is all plan of some convoluted scheme by my master or perhaps I am simply bored and looking for some amusement. Take your pick, it truly does not matter in the long run and you only have so much time to ask me questions before some Talon stumbles in here by accident." Nimbus said, his tone staring out sarcastic but fading into a more neutral voice. Piper realized she was not going to get anywhere along that line of questioning; besides it really would not help them free Aerrow in the long run.

"In that c…" Piper started before Nimbus interrupted her by holding up a hand.

"Actually, allow me to rescind that position, it will do no harm if you know my motives this. You are no doubt aware of my status as a traitor and a spy, which is good because it is in that context that my reasons are grounded. You must understand, as a spy for Cyclonia I have a good deal of power and prestige that comes along with the import of my actions. However, that power and prestige will only last as long as war continues between Cyclonia and Atmosia and should I lose the prestige I have, I will undoubtedly find myself sentenced to death or condemned to the mines; I would like to avoid this fate at any cost. When I initially joined Cyclonia, it seemed as though that war would never end, the two sides were fairly evenly matched and neither could truly gain an advantage over the other. In fact, until a few months ago that continued to be the case and thus until a few months ago I was certain in the security of my position. Now however, the last stronghold of Atmosia is about to fall and, as long as your leader remains on our side there is not a Sky Knight who can stop us." Nimbus explained casually. "In order to ensure the long term duration of this war, there must be a counter point to me on the Atmosian side. Congratulations, I have chosen you to be my counterpart… well, either you or Starling, whichever of you turns out to be more capable of countering my abilities."

"Delightful… In that case, how did Master Cyclonis manage to get Aerrow in the first place?" Piper asked, watching her adversary carefully.

"Ah yes, the question at the heart of this entire controversy, the issue that every Sky Knight has been arguing with you about: did he simply betray Atmosia or was he forced to serve our master? To tell you the honest truth, he betrayed you long before that battle over Terra Vapos, his betrayal started back when you were held captive in Cyclonia. It was then that the same type of psychic crystals that controlled you was implanted in him for later activation. When the time came, our lady let you escape so that her new commander could collect the most recent information on Atmosia and the Sky Knight defenses once her crystals activated. The only problem was that he captured you before the psychic crystals when he escaped. It matters little now, except for that one errant occurrence, everything has gone according to plan and eventually you too will join our side. After all, when you are captured, you will once again have psychic crystals implanted in you and Dark Piper shall once again rise to take her place at my lady's side. On the note of capturing people, it is fortunate for everyone that you have not managed to capture Night Aerrow, particularly because you have no means to remove the crystals in him. Unlike in your case, there is only one way to remove the crystals without causing irreparable harm. I will tell you that one of my lady's crystals is the means by which you can save Aerrow and that it is the crystal she used to implant the crystals originally. Beyond that I will say no more." Nimbus said in a nonchalant tone.

"Thanks, that was… very informative…" Piper said in an unsteady voice, she had not realized that Aerrow was under Cyclonis's control for so long… Then again, there was no guarantee that Nimbus was telling her the truth. She would consider this information later, she had many questions to ask and Nimbus had made it clear that time was limited. "Does this mean you will help us capture Aerrow again?"

"Most assuredly not. First off, it would be too easy to trace it back to me. Secondly, I do have an appearance to maintain. If there was a way that I could help and it was guaranteed that I would not be caught, then I might reconsider that position."

"So this truly is all about benefiting you? I mean, I thought as much from your earlier statement, but you'd rather risk losing in the long run to keep what you have for now?"

"Make no mistake my dear; I am not on your side. But nor am I on a side that will discard me when I am of no further use. What I do is for my advancement alone, and if it is inevitable that I will be discarded then I will hold on to that power for as long as possible. And who is to say that I might not be able to arrange something along the way? Besides, one does not burn their own paycheck; I might singe it a little as I am doing now to amuse myself, but ultimately…"

"I get the idea. So, in that case, where is Master Cyclonis getting all these new crystals from?"

"Ah, that conundrum would keep you occupied for a good long while if you ever tried to figure it out… Suffice to say, these crystals are impossibly difficult to find in nature."

"You're saying they're artificial?"

"Most assuredly, my lady makes them herself; she only needs a raw crystal to create an entirely new crystal never before seen, although I suspect that she really does not need the raw crystal at all." Nimbus said casually. His statement immediately brought back to mind something the Ancients had said, something about how the Aurora Stone had called out to them. While he might not answer, she had to know if Master Cyclonis had indeed reforged the Aurora Stone. If she had, the final attack on the mining terra might come in the form of a devastating storm rather than a conventional assault. Steeling herself for the answer, she finally asked in a slightly quavering voice:

"Did Master Cyclonis remake the Aurora Stone?"

"Yes."

Such a simple word to hold such ominous portent, Piper felt as though the entire world dropped out from under her and she were freefalling in every direction at once, it was an indescribable sensation. Before she could recover from her shock however, Nimbus continued:

"Fret not; she has no intention of using the Aurora Stone on you or the other Sky Knights. One does not make a deal with the shadows to use the light as a weapon."

"What do you mean?" Piper said, his cryptic statement allowing her to temporarily shake off the effects of his confirmation.

"It is quite simple, the Aurora Stone is symbolic of the hope and future of Atmosia, and therefore it is a weapon of light. My master, however, has gained power from one who even I had never heard of before. You have met him once before and I will tell you this, the power he gave her is not meant to be wielded by anyone, you can see for yourself what it has done to her and your friend. Many people consider such power to be dark in nature, and with good reason I would suppose… Especially in this case, after meeting the man myself, I would have to say that there was something decidedly menacing about him. He offered her power with nothing asked in exchange, now ponder this: who in the world would do such a thing?"

"No sane person would offer Master Cyclonis greater power, at least not without getting something in return. Who was this man, if you're willing to tell me that is." Piper asked, somewhat reassured by Nimbus's statement that Master Cyclonis would not use the Aurora Stone on them. Mostly though, it was the fact that if she was going to use the Stone on them, she would have already done so. That was stronger reassurance than the rather odd argument that Nimbus had presented.

"That is an interesting conundrum is it not? I could very well tell you who the man was, but it would do you no good. If my master cannot find him, it is unlikely that you Sky Knights will be able to locate him, especially considering the expected remaining lifespan of your kind."

"Fine then, I'll accept that, and since I anticipate that you will not answer any questions about yourself, I suppose we are mostly finished here."

"Ah yes, of course, you undoubtedly want to present these findings to your comrades as soon as possible. Follow me; I will take you to where your Heliscooter has been hidden so you can make your escape. I trust you can find your way through the defenses surrounding the mining terra easily enough. After all, some time ago you went to the mining terra for escort duty and, given that the defenses are design to handle mass swarms of Talons or carriers, a single skimmer should have ample margin for error."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure I can handle it." Piper said as she followed Nimbus outside to where a nearly invisible rope hung down from the roof. With a quick tug, a rope ladder descended to ground level, quietly clattering in the night-time silence that hung over the terra.

"It is a bit crude, but the Talons never noticed a thing." Nimbus said smugly as he started up the ladder with Piper following a few seconds later. When they reached the top of the ladder, Piper quickly spotted her Heliscooter tucked away in a dark corner of the complex assortment of terraces that made up the roof of the Council building. She quietly walked over to her ride and carefully examined every nook and cranny of the machine, checking for any hidden devices. After confirming there were none, she turned back to find that nimbus had disappeared and taken the ladder with him. It was quite the effective way of ensuring she left, especially since as soon as she started up her skimmer the Talons would know right where she was; not to mention that her skimmer was the only safe way off the roof. With little other choice in the matter, Piper quickly revved up her Heliscooter and shot off into the darkness of the night before the Talons could pursue. She was not really sure if she should trust anything Nimbus said, but she did get the feeling that the truth was in there somewhere, she only had to sift through any deception Nimbus might have blended in.

Marrshal casually walked back into his study inside the former Council building, thankful that his little play with Piper had gone off smoothly. True, she probably did not believe much of what he had said, but that had not been the point of the charade in the first place. Indeed, the actual goal had been to plant a new transmitting crystal on Piper, a task one of his agents had carried out while Piper had reeled in shock from his confirmation of the Aurora Stone's rebirth. The crystal would transmit any sound within range to a sister crystal that he had secreted away in his study. It was a wonderful new covert operations tool; it should prove most useful in finding out what the Sky Knights were up to. And who knew, maybe by ensuring that Piper escaped he had earning some amount of trust from her, although he doubted it. If nothing else though, she would waste time trying to sift the truth out of what he had said, a difficult proposition since he had terminated her little research mission here early. At least this way Piper would be back on the mining terra in time for the end of the Sky Knights, an end that she would ironically help to bring about in more ways than one…


	30. Chapter 30

**Darkening Skies: Knightfall**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 2**

Piper cruised through the skies of occupied Atmosia, scouting out the various terras to see which ones had been occupied by Cyclonian forces. The separated terras were simply no match for the overwhelming force that Cyclonia had deployed, even though such a massive attack had undoubtedly left much of Cyclonia undefended, there was no way to organize an effective counterstrike. Additionally, by the looks of things, Master Cyclonis was being quite thorough in 'moping up' the remaining free terras and the routes the fleets were taking undoubtedly ended in one location, the only remaining refuge from the Cyclonian threat. At most it would be a week or two before they were ready to attack the mining terra, Master Cyclonis was making sure there would be nowhere left for them to flee to. If what Nimbus said held any truth though, they would not win this upcoming battle, one way or another. Either Cyclonis would use the power of the Aurora Stone to wipe them out or they would be unable to overcome the massive attack force they would need to fight. She had already counted over twenty destroyers and over fifty frigates, even with the Ancient's weapon they would not be able to take out that many vessels at once. Where the Cyclonians had managed to find the resources to construct such armadas was a mystery, although Piper suspected that the new abilities Master Cyclonis had were probably responsible. How she could confirm her hypothesis was beyond her however, it was far too dangerous for her to get close to Cyclonis right now. If something were to go wrong, an all too common occurrence these days, she would not be able to help the Sky Knights survive the coming onslaught. While she had no doubt that Starling would at least be as capable, two heads were better than one.

Perhaps then a new strategy was called for, it was clear that Cyclonia had invested much of their manufacturing capability in producing this armada. If it could be defeated, Cyclonia would likely never be able to rise again; they would not have the resources necessary to recover, even with the mysterious abilities Master Cyclonis. That would mean that they would need to slowly grind down the fleet, something they could not do if they were confined in one location. Maybe it was time to turn some of Cyclonia's tactics back on them, Piper thought to herself as she made her way towards the mining terra. There would likely be few Sky Knights who would agree with her radical new tactic, an unfortunate inevitability due to the long-term effect of the Rex Guardians on the Sky Knight's views. Perhaps only Starling and the other Storm Hawks would agree to her proposal and if they were to be the only ones to continue the fight against Cyclonia then they would just have to fight that much harder.

Two days later…

Starling quietly walked along the edge of the mining terra, Terra Bast, enjoying a moment of peace before the demands of preparing the terra's defenses consumed the rest of her day. It was a routine she had fallen into, a necessity given their current situation and the lack of universally famous Sky Knights. Most of them had been captured by the Cyclonians, leaving only the regionally known squadrons to hold the mining terra against the coming onslaught. The mood on-terra was tense, an uneasiness that had only been amplified by the Sky Knight Council's recent 'lockdown' order that had forbidden anyone from leaving the terra, not even sentries had been sent out for fear that they might not return. Thinking on that executive decision, Starling sighed wearily, there was no good way to handle this war right now, but such decrees only made people more aware of the dire straights they were in right now.

How had it come to this? A year ago, had she been asked if Cyclonia's defeat was inevitable, Starling would have said yes without hesitation. Cyclonia had not yet been on its last legs at the time, but they had lost a significant portion of their territory, including Ravess's terra and most of the associated territories. Now somehow, the Cyclonians had revealed a massive fleet and a whole host of new crystals, not to mention a score of traitors willing to advance their cause. Starling grimaced slightly, there was not point in running mental circles like this and there was not easy way to find out the answers to these mysteries. Still, she suspected that the key to all this probably lay with Shar, if they could only find out more about him, they might find out just what he was doing for Cyclonia. Starling did not buy his claims that he was simply a traitor; his skills were too expansive for him to be a simple turncoat. That said; it was important that they find him, particularly since his family had vanished even before he had been revealed as a traitor and an investigation had been launched.

In reality though, these concerns were secondary to planning on how to defend the mining terra Starling thought as she gazed out at the dark gray clouds that whirled about the landmass. As she stared into the swirling cloud layers, a sudden quiet noise caught her attention and she listened intently for a couple minutes as she attempted to identify what was making the sound as well as where the sound was coming from. Moments later she spotted the source: a small Heliscooter had broken through the walls of clouds surrounding the mesa and was making its way toward the plains below. By appearances, the craft was heavily damaged, possibly from one of the floating mines that regularly orbited the terra. A sudden gout of flame burst out of the air craft's engine and its once gradual descent suddenly became a free fall plunge to a rocky outcropping some distance away from where Starling stood. Recognizing that the pilot might need aid, Starling quickly began running toward the outcrop, only to notice the pilot eject as she ran. Angling her direction slightly to intercept the drifting pilot, she reached the landing site just as the mysterious intruder landed and quickly pulled out her nunchuku in case their 'visitor' turned out to be hostile. A moment later Starling's suspicions proved to be mostly unfounded as Piper gracefully touched down, her parachute continuing to float down as she spotted Starling and walked over.

"Starling! Thank goodness it's you." Piper said as Starling also walked forward to greet her comrade.

"Piper, it's good to see you're still alive." Starling said as she approached cautiously. For all she knew, this Piper could be the Cyclonis fanatic that they had encountered before, sent her to spy on them and wreak havoc with their defenses.

"Yeah, well, don't celebrate just yet," Piper replied, putting Starling on instant alert. "I had a little run in with our friend Shar… or Nimbus, or whatever his infernal name really is. He claims he helped me escape to promote the continuance of the war and solidify his own position of power, but if he let me go then I suspect that he's probably bugged me in some way. Just to be safe, I should be searched thoroughly before we discuss anything important. Afterwards, I need to speak with the Sky Knight Council… We don't have much time left based on what I've seen."

An hour later, Piper found herself standing before the Sky Knight Council as requested, presenting her plan to them as well as her warning of the impending juggernaut that would soon smash into the terra.

"You must understand; there is a very high probability that if we make our stand here that all remnants of Free Atmos will be lost, we at least need some Sky Knights to sneak into Cyclonian occupied territory and strike a decisive blow against Master Cyclonis. I realize that it will weaken our defenses here slightly, but Cyclonia can't have much left to defend their other holdings; this is an unparalleled opportunity to strike at Cyclonia and possibly divert their attack and give us more time to prepare. If it succeeds, we can continue to launch raids against Cyclonian-held terras until their force is completely dispersed and we can launch concerted attacks to reclaim the territories they've stolen from us." Piper pleaded as she gazed at each member of the Sky Knight Council in turn, their passive watch telling her that they were unconvinced of the need to heed her warning.

"Piper, we understand that you believe your strategy will succeed, but what guarantee is there? If she is truly so close to wiping us out then Master Cyclonis will not let anything stand in her way, not even the threat of us disrupting some minor industries in her empire."

"Then at least some Sky Knights will survive the upcoming fight to continue to resist Cyclonia! It's dangerous to place all our hopes in one final stand, particularly with so many Talons arrayed against us. Please I ask you to consider this proposal if nothing else, we have nothing to lose by trying and much to gain if it succeeds."

"**WE** see no reason to risk losing what we already have, as long as we remain here on this terra; we are safe from any Cyclonian assault. Piper, we do appreciate the amount of thought you have put into this plan, but consider this: if we wait until after the Cyclonian assault has been broken, then we can truly strike without fear of reprisal. With so many Sky Knights here, the Talons will never penetrate our defenses and the traitors will be dealt with shortly by the Sky Knights of the Shadowed Peak."

"Aren't you putting a little too much faith in the Shadowed Peak? What if they've been caught?"

"Think of all the times you Storm Hawks have easily infiltrated the ranks of the Talons, or how long Starling was able to remain undercover. Cyclonia has no means of protecting against covert attack; we have learned that lesson well."

"But so have they! Don't you remember Shar? He betrayed us and has continued to work against us from the shadows; we've told you this before!"

"Just because he's a traitor does not mean that Shar is skilled in counter-intelligence. Now then, I suggest that you calm down and get some rest; if what you've told us is true, then we only have a few days before the final assault."

With a frustrated sigh, Piper left the impromptu Council chambers and walked out into the muted sunlight that illuminated the mining terra. Starling and the other Storm Hawks were waiting for her outside, although none of them said a word, each recognizing the defeated slump of her shoulders and concluding that things had not gone well. The group followed her back to the Condor; the sight of her newly repaired Heliscooter, compliments of Junko, bringing a small smile to Piper's face. When everyone had taken their seats on the bridge, Piper scanned the assembled faces and finally said:

"We need to some contingency plans…"

Marrshal silently strode through the dark and twisting halls of Terra Nocturne, enjoying the silence that hung in the air like a blanket, comforting those who were used to it but suffocating to anyone else. Despite that fact that the small spire-terra was inhabited by several hundred of his elite Talon operative, there was no one in evidence, as it should be considering their vocation. As he passed by one of the windows that allowed the subterranean tunnels of the terra to look out on the outside world, Marrshal paused to monitor the progress of the storm outside. Since his chosen terra resided near the edge of a particularly storm blasted area of the Atmos, Marrshal had chosen to hide his terra through the use of a large high grade storm crystal. In addition to hiding the terra, the crystal also provided the only source of illumination for the entire terra, special crystal conduits piping the dim light to illuminate the deep subterranean tunnels and chambers that comprised the true inhabitable space on the terra. However, Marrshal reflected as he continued onward, his purpose here was not to admire the dark beauty of his terra, nor was his purpose a normal inspection tour. He had a much more important task to perform, a particularly enjoyable job that would bring closure to his most recent endeavor, one that he had undertaken in the week while the Cyclonian fleet was mopping up the remaining free terras.

Having made a full circuit around the circular hall near the terra's surface to trigger the processes that would energize the crystals he needed to unlock the warrens below, Marrshal slid a hand along one of the support arches, looking for the distinctive 'wear pattern' that marked where the crystals had been imbedded into the structure of the arch. He quickly traced out the pattern in a specific sequence, the gentle pressure he exerted moving the crystals contained within. With each movement, the crystals activated a series of pistons topped with blocker crystals. His final trace withdrew the deadbolt that held the hidden door firmly down and the wall next to him pop up as the floater crystals lining the bottom of the door reacted to the sudden release of pressure. Reaching under the bottom of the door, Marrshal searched around until he found a crystal with a slightly different texture and pulled, the hidden levitation crystal popping out of its socket in his hand. Without wasting any more time, he used the crystal to levitate the twelve foot thick stone door into the ceiling, revealing a narrow staircase that descended into the depths at a steep angle. While the other stairs the ascended from this outer hall led into a warren of caverns in the upper part of the terra, this staircase was the only one that led to actually inhabited portions of his headquarters terra. As the door began to slowly close under its own weight, Marrshal quickly reinserted the levitation crystal into its hiding place and pressed a crystal on the wall next to him. Immediately the pistons slid back up into position, ensuring that the floater crystals would be deactivated and the door would fully close. Once the door was fully closed, he pulled a lever next to the crystal to lock the deadbolts back into place.

Satisfied that the true entrance to his base was safely hidden once more, Marrshal descended down the now pitch-black staircase, relying on memory and his senses of touch and hearing to prevent him from tripping and falling. Suddenly, he felt a pillar along the side of the hall and he immediately withdrew his hand as the echoes from his footsteps cut out into complete silence. In designing this terra, he had realized that the total darkness of this passage would case some to tightly hug the walls, the only solid source of security available. To quietly dispose of such intruders, he had hollowed out this vast circular chasm that surrounded the base and designed it in such a way that the only way across was a relatively narrow rock arch. The chasm was only a couple hundred yards across, but the disorientation caused by the sudden lack of most sensation was enough to ensure that someone would likely fall off the narrow stairway. Experienced at making the crossing though, Marrshal crossed in only a few minutes, arriving at another door that marked the entrance into this inner sanctum. Feeling around for a narrow groove in the door, he pulled out an energy crystal finely chiseled into the proper shape to fit precisely into the groove and power the door opening mechanisms. Silently gliding open on floater crystal guide rails, the door opened to reveal a hallway softly illuminated with diffuse greenish-blue light. As was expected, there were several dozen Talons waiting just inside the door, weapons ranging from crystal assassins daggers to mini-crossbows used in sniping operations and held at the ready to dispatch any foolish intruder. However, upon seeing their commander on the other side of the door, their weapons quickly disappeared into various hiding places and all but one of them disappeared into various trapdoor compartments. The remaining Talon Operative quickly pulled out a notepad and handed to Marrshal, but the spymaster was in no mood to read the standard reports that his men here compiled as they coordinated covert operations all across Atmos.

"Thank you Tenmos, but I am not here to read reports or conduct an inspection. I need to go to Terra Hades and as you well know, that unique little terra can only be accessed from here." Marrshal said as he walked toward his office here in Nocturne, an exact duplicate of the one found buried deep in Cyclonia.

"Thank goodness for that small blessing." Tenmos said quietly as Marrshal filed the report away in the appropriate bookcase. His comment caused the Cyclonian spymaster to throw a casual glance over his shoulder at his right-hand man.

"Still have nightmares of the time you spent there during your training?" Marrshal asked in an idle tone, already knowing that the answer would be an affirmative. Tenmos must have realized this and remained silent, disappearing from Marrshal's office a few seconds later since the spymaster was very particular about who saw where the hidden entrance to Terra Hades was.

Now alone, Marrshal walked out to one of the lateral hallways that formed concentric rings expanding out from the central room and were connected by radial halls. This particular lateral hall did not form a complete concentric ring, which was nothing unusual. This hall was different in that one of the pillars supporting the ceiling had a hidden energy crystal port cut into it and plugged with the same material that the pillar was made of. Marrshal found the port easily enough by rote of memory and quickly removed the plug and slipped one of his energy crystals into the port. Almost immediately, the entire hallway began to move in a circular path around the vertical axis of the base, eventually slowing to a halt after lining up with another hallway that led further down into the bedrock of the base. To ensure that no one would suspect anything, an identical hallway had been paired up on the end of the hall he had ridden in, keeping the route open. After walking down the stairs for some time, Marrshal found himself in a small room lit only by the dim glow of active shields. These shields formed four 'walls' that surrounded a small violet crystal on a pedestal, preventing easy access. Of course, shield crystals were fairly easy to deactivate in comparison to the more insidious defense he had prepared for this portal crystal. Visible only as a square traced in the ceiling and floor inside the cube formed by the shields, this next defense was perhaps his most treasured invention, an absolute method of preventing theft. Although not visible normally, these square slots were the emitters of his specially designed oblivion fields, invisible walls of crystal energy that sent whatever crossed them into a realm of oblivion. He quickly deactivated the fields and took the portal crystal from its mount and activated it, creating a shimmering energy disk that floated in the air a couple centimeters off the floor. Without hesitation, Marrshal stepped through the field, appearing instantly on top of a tall tower that stood alone in the middle of a circular plain. Overhead, rock formed a sky from which snow slowly drifted down, the result of the blizzard crystals that were hooked into the shield crystals that protected this place.

This was Terra Hades, his own private prison, even more inescapable than the prison on Terra Zartacla. Instead of traditional cells, the cells here consisted of smooth-walled pits with vertical sides and shield crystals mounted to form barriers across the top of each pit. Prisoner accommodations consisted of a bed made of cloth piles and basic hygienic necessities. Such things were only a minor part of what made this prison inescapable, its location was much more vital to maintaining its security and secrecy. The great secret of this prison was that it was actually located beneath the Wastelands, floating on floater crystals in one of the massive lava flows that covered the floor of the Wastelands. Located in the core of this terra was the massive shield and blizzard crystal array that prevented the prison from being consumed by lava by creating a sphere of cold around the terra and creating a shell of solid rock between the air of the prison and the scalding molten rock outside. Such measures ensured that no one could dig their way out of prison, and even if they could escape their cells, the only way out of this terra was to use the portal crystal that Marrshal now held in his hand and that always remained with either Marrshal or hidden in Terra Nocturne. Once he left, there would be no way to escape; hence why even the Talons dreaded being assigned to guard rotation in this place, a fate reserved for those Talons who especially displeased Master Cyclonis. Additional safeguards such as sound dampening crystals prevented individual prisoners from coordinating escape attempts, especially since there was only one prisoner per cell. There were other safeguards which Marrshal regularly inspected to ensure that escape was impossible, particularly since the only prisoners condemned to live in this place were those who Master Cyclonis truly despised. The Storm Hawks had been lucky that they had not been condemned to live out the rest of their days here when they had first been captured, but Master Cyclonis had intended other things for them as was now obvious. Other prisoners of note did include The Producers, Carver, The Colonel, at least one Sky Siren, Repton and, more recently, Captain Scabulous of the Murk Raiders. The last prisoner in particular was why Marrshal had decided to visit Hades this fine day.

"Greetings Scabulous, I trust you are enjoying your stay here?" Marrshal said as he arrived at the pit Scabulous was being held in and motioned for the despondent Talon guard to deactivate the sound dampening crystals.

"I don't know who you are, but when I get out of here I shall enjoy decorating my ship with your hide!" Scabulous shot back menacingly, "Even now I'm certain my crew is looking for me."

"It is doubtful that your crew cares that much about you." Marrshal said in a snide tone. Since he had been imitating Scabulous for several days now (he could still feel the disgusting taint of that role), the Murk Raiders had not yet discovered their leader's absence. When they finally realized that Scabulous was missing, he would take great pleasure in sending their ships to rot in the Wastelands with the explosives he had planted aboard. At that thought, he quickly pulled out a small radio and pressed a control on it, savoring the enjoyable feeling that came along with perpetuating mass destruction or wrapping up loose ends.

"Yes, it is fairly certain that your crew will not be coming for you now." Marrshal continued in a mocking voice, "You however, have been keeping some very valuable secrets from us… That is no way for allies to treat each other."

"You would do the same to us in a heartbeat."

"True, but we can hide our handiwork better than you can evidently." Marrshal said as he held up a green crystal in the shape of a delicate snowflake, "A crystal with the power to create endless duplicates of anything the user can envision? Now that is far too valuable to be kept a secret, particularly since such power means the doom of Free Atmos. Now apologize for your misstep and maybe you can leave."

"Die scum."

"So be it. Guard, activate the sound dampeners again, I need to give Master Cyclonis a very special early birthday present…"


	31. Chapter 31

**Darkening Skies: Knightfall**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 3**

Night Aerrow watched with interest as the vast crowd of Marrshals that filled the audience chamber of his citadel of Atmosia suddenly dispersed, leaving only the original spymaster standing alone with the Duplication crystal that had made such a feat possible.

"Interesting," Master Cyclonis said as she leaned forward to get a better look at the elegant three dimensional crystal snowflake that the commander held, "I must wonder how the Murk Raiders got their hands on such an immensely powerful crystal."

"Evidently by accident… Several years ago, one of the previous Murk Raider captains found an ancient battle cruiser fleet that had crashed in the Great Expanse. Hidden deep within the flagship of the ghost armada this captain discovered some form of ancient crystal forging construct which was pulling the energies of several crystals and infusing them into a single blank template crystal. In this case, several cloning crystals were being drained and fused into this crystal, a process that has evidently taken hundreds of years to complete based on the age of the wreaks. Each captain of the Murk Raiders passed the secret of this fleet onto his successors in some fashion… Considering how one gains a promotion within the Murk Raiders, I am surprised that the location was not lost long ago. No matter, the crystal is now mature and fully powered, ready for us to use."

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Master Cyclonis said as she leaned back in her throne, contemplating the possibilities such a powerful crystal presented. At the very least, this Duplication Crystal would ensure a Cyclonian victory in the upcoming battle at the mining terra and end the era of the Sky Knights. Still, the presence of such advanced ancient technology was intriguing and bore further investigation. This technology could not fall into the hands of their resistors, it might give them new hope and the courage to fight on even after all hope had been lost. This would not stand and thus… "Marrshal, I want you to return to this ancient fleet, take however many Talons you desire and secure this machine for Cyclonia. In the meantime, give me the crystal, I know just how to use such power and test the limits of this new gem."

"By your will my lady." Marrshal said as he bowed and mysteriously vanished into the shadows as he was prone to doing. Since Marrshal's meeting with Master Cyclonis was obviously over, Night Aerrow and the Dark Ace walked forward and up onto the dais surrounding her throne to get a better look at the snowflake- like crystal. It looked incredibly fragile, especially up close… how it managed to contain the obvious power that pulsed brilliantly within it was a mystery, one that Master Cyclonis was probably contemplating.

"It doesn't look like much really; I'm surprised it survived whatever calamity happened to the fleet it was found in." Night Aerrow said quietly as he examined the crystal carefully.

"Indeed, although it probably had not formed yet when the fleet was destroyed and only formed in the centuries afterward. Still, I do want to test just how powerful this crystal is, let's go to the parade grounds shall we?" Master Cyclonis said casually as her throne dais lifted off, an energy shield forming around it to protect the occupants from any unexpected events. With flash, space around the shield warped and the entire structure reappeared on a balcony overlooking a vast assembly field that had been built into the citadel in the field that had existed between the Sky Knight Council building and the Beacon Tower. Of course, both structures were long gone, incorporated into Night Aerrow's Citadel as the entrance gate and the main tower respectively. This parade ground also served as an impromptu training ground and several Talon squadrons were running combat exercises below them. At their arrival however, two Resonance crystals began to quietly play the Cyclonian Royal Theme, a response to the presence of Master Cyclonis and a signal for the Talons to form ranks. The Talons responded quickly and soon had formed up into neat ranks in the grounds below, waiting for her orders. Rather than give them instructions however, Master Cyclonis simply held out the Duplication Crystal and activated it. Immediately afterward, the once nearly empty arena was filled with duplicate squads of Talons, each Talon squad having been duplicated around ten times. Night Aerrow turned to Master Cyclonis as the Talons below looked at their duplicates in confusion.

"Impressive, although I should think they we might want quality as opposed to quantity, after all, there's no point to having massive swarms of Talons if they all are wiped out in droves by the Sky Knights." Night Aerrow whispered quietly to Master Cyclonis.

"An excellent point Night Aerrow; and one well worth heeding. Dark Ace, you and Night Aerrow review the performance records that Marrshal compiles on the Talons and select the best Talons available. Of those, also select the top forty Talons in all of Cyclonia for some special training, enough to ensure they can take out any normal Sky Knight they run across. When you have finished, I would like you to have them assemble here for duplication… In the meantime, I think I'll see what else this jewel can copy…"

"That won't work though; we have no means of getting into Cyclonia like that right now." Starling said in frustration as she tossed a map of the skies around Cyclonia to one side and dropped down into one of the seats on the Condor's bridge.

"Sadly, you're right." Piper agreed as she picked up the discarded parchment and neatly laid it out on the bridge table. "But that doesn't change the fact that we need to get into Cyclonia and find any notes that Cyclonis might be keeping on the crystals she's made. If we can find those, then we might find a way to reverse their effects on Aerrow or, at the very least, find out what won't work. To say nothing of finding out what happened to all the Sky Knights that have disappeared."

"What about the method that Aerrow used before? Simply cutting the crystals out?" Starling asked as she looked up from her skulk.

"I'm not sure that will work… remember before how I would switch between myself and 'dark' Piper depending on whether or not I was asleep? Well, that's not the case here, when I was on Atmosia Aerrow never reverted back to his normal self, in fact, he is becoming increasingly corrupted by Master Cyclonis, he's already got the red irises and his hair is more reddish-black than red now. Considering that effect, I have to know how integrated these crystals are, we don't want to kill him when we remove the crystals. It's entirely possible that after so much time these crystals integrate themselves into the host and removing them is impossible. If that's the case, we need to find out as soon as possible and formula a plan that will really ensure Aerrow's capture, particularly given our previous track record of failure when it comes to catching him."

"Which I find as odd, anyone else would have been caught by now. I know you've been harried recently and your timing has been off, but still…" Starling said in a conciliatory tone.

"No time to worry about that now, we have lots to do if we want to successfully infiltrate Cyclonia, not to mention that we still have to plan the defense of this terra; even if it is a futile gesture for the most part."

"Piper, you're trying to do too much, there are other Sky Knights here who can defend the terra, besides, you already have ensured that at least some Sky Knights will escape to continue the fight should the worst happen. It's time we focus on freeing Aerrow and leave others to handle the major crises, particularly since they don't really want to hear what you have to say. Aerrow needs you more than the other Sky Knights do and if we can get him back on our side, we'll finally have someone who can match the Dark Ace. It'll be an uphill battle to reclaim what we've lost, but we can do it, if nothing else Sky Knights are determined."

"True enough, but I don't think we're going to accomplish anything else without a break here… Can you go pick up the food while I clean up?"

"Sure, no problem." Starling said as she left the bridge, only to be replaced by Vespos of the Ancients. The Sky Knight quietly glided over to where Piper stood, causing her to straighten up to face him.

"My apologies, Piper, but the Ancients cannot assist you and the other Sky Knights in the coming battle." Vespos said quietly, keeping his eyes shrouded beneath the edge of his hood.

"WHAT?! Why not?" Piper asked in confusion as she shoved the maps and papers on the table off to one side.

"There are far greater threats to Atmos than Master Cyclonis, and it is these threats that we must now leave to confront for you are honor bound to fight them. In our absence, you must not falter, for if you fall then Master Cyclonis will eventually come for us too. We cannot fight two forces at once and this world would fall to those whom we fight. Thus it is with grave import that I say that the Sky Knights must survive this coming battle by whatever means necessary, find a way, I humbly ask this of you. Fear not though, we shall return as soon as we are able, we will not abandon you to fight alone as we once were." The Ancient replied calmly in a grave voice that told Piper he would not be dissuaded from his decision.

"We could really use you in this upcoming fight though." Piper pleaded, hoping that Vespos might at least leave some of the Ancients behind to bolster the Sky Knight forces stationed on Terra Bast. It was a forlorn hope, true, but one that she need to endorse just in case. "Can even some of you stay behind to help us?"

"I am afraid not, we have battled throughout the centuries and each time it has only been our superior numbers and tactics that allowed us to prevail; if either is missing we would fail and we cannot risk that."

"I don't like it, but if you absolutely need to go, no one is stopping you… Just don't make it look like you're fleeing the coming battle, okay?" Piper responded in a resigned tone.

"Fear not, we shall inform the other Sky Knights that we are leaving to stop a preemptive strike that would end the battle before it even began. That should keep morale up in the face of our disappearance." Vespos said before bowing and leaving, there being little more that could be said. "Just remember that we are counting on you not to fail, please do not disappoint us."

"Don't worry, I won't." Piper said confidently.

The Great Expanse, Battlefield of Timeless Ages…

Secure in his office aboard his own personal modified Cyclonian destroyer, Marrshal allowed himself a wicked smile of enjoyment as he held up his receiver crystal. With the Ancients out of the action for now, the last battle to determine the fate of the Sky Knights would be that much easier and would likely mean that the Storm Hawks would not attempt a serious rescue operation to try and retrieve Aerrow, despite the previous planning that Piper and Starling had devoted to such an endeavor. Still, he would have to monitor the situation carefully, it was entirely possible that Piper had discovered his transmitting crystal and was using it to feed him false information while finding some other way of communicating, such as writing or something similar… Well, he would have to make note of that in his reports to Master Cyclonis, reports he continued to file despite his current mission to retrieve the crystal forge he had found through his time in the Murk Raiders. Hopefully this one last mission would be the last time he had to interact with anything relating to the Murk Raiders; already his mission meant that he would miss the final showdown between the Sky Knights and Cyclonia… Unless he omitted to mention that Piper was sending some of the better Sky Knight squadrons away from the terra with the expressed purpose of forming a covert resistance force in case they failed to win at Terra Bast. Then again, he really did not need to omit that fact, by the time Master Cyclonis read his report; the squadrons would already be long gone. Besides, here in four days those squadrons would not have anything to return to.

Unknown Realm…

"So, our plans come to their full fruition, Master Cyclonis is about to gain all that she desires, everything has proceeded as we have foreseen and planned for." The Ageless Specter mused as he contemplated the chess board before him. As he continued to watch, one of the three knights on the board moved of its own accord to set down next to a bishop. In response, the bishop turned to face the knight and a point of light formed between the two pieces. Out of that point of light, another chess board appeared with one king, a queen, two bishops and fifty-six knights on one side and eight bishops plus a king on the other. As the knight had previously, the pieces on this new board began to move of their own accord, maneuvering to gain strategic positions on the board. "It would seem that the Ancients have engaged our servitors in battle; good, the stage is set. Now we have only to ensure that the Storm Hawks escape from the coming fight."

In response to this decision, the Ageless Specter looked back to the first board, where a single white knight had surrounded by grey pawns backed up by a queen, two knights and two rooks. A grey bishop had been part of the surrounding force, but now it was headed toward a point of light on the board, but the Ageless Specter paid that maneuver no heed. Instead, he touched the white knight, which immediately expanded into a new board with hundreds of knight of various off-white shades. Knowing exactly which pieces he wanted, he quickly picked them up and set them on a fragment of the board which separated from the board the other knights were sitting on. He then shrank both boards back down into the single white knight, although now a single square with a knight floated above the first white knight.

"There we go," the Ageless Specter continued as he checked on the second white knight, which had broken off of the first and was now moving away from where the first knight was trapped. By all appearances, this second knight had made a clean get away; no grey pieces were moving to intercept it, which was just how the Ageless Specter wanted it. With everything in place, there was nothing that could go wrong with the Illuminati's plan now; his agents had made sure of that.


	32. Chapter 32

**Darkening Skies: Knightfall**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 4**

Master Cyclonis greeted the dawn with a feeling of elation; after all, today was the day when she would finally reclaim what was rightfully hers, control of Atmos. She and Marrshal had worked hard on this plan, to finally see it about to happen was a thrill that she had only experienced once before. Although, none of this could have happened without the two best Sky Knights in the Atmos on her side, that had been one of the key observations Marrshal had made early on. As long as Aerrow opposed the Dark Ace, the two would cancel each other out and the Talons were simply cannon fodder when sent against full-fledged Sky Knights, enough of them might be able to take down a Sky Knight, but only at great cost. The revelations of Magus Psi and the discovery of the Duplication Crystal had been fortunate, without them she never would have come this far this quickly. True, some things had gone awry, but in the end they had managed to overcome those setbacks and even Marrshal's latest report about the Sky Knights sending out a small guerilla army was of little concern to her, eventually they would be caught and destroyed. Since she had discovered that the Duplication Crystal could even copy cruisers, she could send as many vessels as needed to hunt them down, a tactic she would be employing today in the battle for Terra Bast. Indeed, the Sky Knights would not know what hit them…

A few hours later, Night Aerrow stared ahead at the massive cloud bank that hid Terra Bast from the might of the Cyclonian Fleet. Using the Duplication Crystal, Master Cyclonis had assembled a massive fleet of over a thousand frigates and at least three hundred destroyers to surround the last stronghold of the Sky Knights. Unnumbered Talons kept a tight perimeter, devotedly keeping to their duties lest they earn the wrath of Master Cyclonis by allowing a Sky Knight to escape. Still, even they whispered among themselves, the excitement at finally defeating the Sky Knights enough to break the tight façade of enforced discipline. Unfortunately, the barrier of clouds was an effective one, with a mine field hiding inside, they dared not enter least they hit a mine. It was a situation that seemed insurmountable: the Sky Knight did not dare to leave their precarious haven, but the Talons dared not enter to finish off the job and without Marrshal's expertise they had no way of knowing how to get in.

"Fear not dearest Night Aerrow, I already have a way to get in." Master Cyclonis intoned suddenly from behind him, as if sensing his thoughts. "Their defenses are formidable, but I doubt they ever considered the possibility that I might gain the power I have. Watch and see, I think you'll like the show."

With this last statement, Master Cyclonis stretched both hands out toward the clouds before her and closed her eyes, a brilliant red aura surrounding her as she did so…

Piper was immediately blown off her feet as a series of massive explosions tore through the clouds surrounding Terra Bast, each explosion setting off an additional chain reaction that further drove her against the ground as she struggled to understand what was going on. In an instant, it was clear to her that the Cyclonian attack on Bast had finally, arrived, a realization that paled in comparison to a new conclusion formed a moment later as the protective shell of clouds surrounding the terra rapidly began to dissipate, allowing direct sunlight to shine on the terra. What it revealed however, was not cause for celebration. The massive Cyclonian fleet was easily visible, there was just no way to hide such a force and Piper knew they were in trouble even as her mind worked out what had caused the previous blasts that were still ringing in her ears. Master Cyclonis must have somehow destroyed the cloud-producing crystals around the terra, setting off a chain reaction that had detonated the floating mines that served as the initial defense against attack. This conclusion was further confirmed a second later as the defense cannons on the terra opened fire, sending brilliant spears of multi-colored energy into the invading fleet. Without waiting to see the results of that initial volley, Piper raced full tilt toward the Condor, desperate to get there before Stork launched into battle (with great reluctance no doubt). Around her, other carriers were already lifting off, their crews having been the current rotation on alert while the other squadrons ate and relaxed. Clearly their break had been cut short.

Within a couple minutes, she had reached the Condor and quickly boarded as she heard the engines begin warming up. She raced through the hallways, quickly arriving in the hanger where the other Storm Hawks were busy preparing their rides for the combat to come.

"What's the current situation?" Piper asked, not bothering to stop moving as she went straight to her Heliscooter and began her pre-flight check.

"A massive Cyclonian fleet has surrounded the terra and we have a lot of Talons inbound. Most of the civilians have already begun fleeing to the underground safe zones or to the fortress to wait out the battle, provided we win here… We are seriously outnumbered and short on allies; I don't think the Ancients planned for this when they left to fight whatever they're fighting." Starling responded tersely as she powered up her own skimmer.

"I couldn't dissuade them, but whatever it is; it must be really bad if they would simply abandon us to fight the Cyclonians alone. It could be worse though, they could have had to leave in the middle of the battle."

"True enough… I'm heading out into the fray."

"Good luck, we'll join you shortly." Piper shouted as Starling flew out of the hanger and into the chaos outside. Not wanting to leave her friend to fend for herself out there, Piper rushed through her checks all the quicker and launched only a minute later. As soon as she left the relative quiet of the hanger, Piper immediately was engulfed in the havoc of combat, nearly colliding with a Talon who had been trying to strafe the Condor. Stork was quick enough to dive out of the way while Piper rolled past the Talon and shot his ride from behind with her staff. Instead of crashing however, both the Talon and his ride disappeared in a flash which served as cover for another Talon to begin his strafing run on Piper. She rolled up and to the side of the Talon, avoiding his shots and returned fire, although this Talon was more alert than the previous one and dove out of the line of fire. Piper responded by giving chase, only to find that four more Talons were waiting for her. Rather than fight fairly, she quickly pulled out an explosive crystal and threw it at the ambushing Talons, shooting it a short distance away from them to detonate the gem and engulfing the Talons in a brilliant orange fireball. As the firestorm cleared however, it revealed clear sky, the Talons having vanished in the conflagration, much as the first Talon had vanished… Seeing this trend, a horrific realization slowly began to dawn on Piper: the Cyclonians must have some form of illusion or duplication crystal and were using it to enhance their advantage. However, she was suddenly jolted out of her line of thought by an energy bolt glancing off the side of her skimmer. Whirling around, she responded with a volley of shots that caught the Talon in the chest and immediately dispersed him into a spray of light. Clearly they were not illusions Piper conceded as she corkscrewed through a swarm of Talons that were diving to intercept her. She was quickly being overwhelmed as wave after wave of Talons crashed through the Sky Knight lines and she realized that it would not be long before a Talon finally shot her out of the sky. Nonetheless, she thought as she blasted two more Talons from the air, she would not go down without a fight.

"Still fighting the good fight I see." A familiar voice said from behind her, and Piper whirled to find herself looking right into Aerrow's face. With black-red hair, red irises and a black Talon uniform, she almost did not recognize him up close, although the hairstyle was the same and provided a good standard of reference. "You should just give up now, while you still have a position at Master Cyclonis's side available. She'd be more than happy to have you back."

"Not a chance." Piper replied, on her guard for when he attacked, "I know what being Master Cyclonis's friend really is all about and no thank you."

"Too bad, now we have to do this the hard way." Night Aerrow responded with a shrug, "And here I thought you were better at recognizing the inevitable than that. Oh well, I don't mind a good fight." With a sudden surge of motion, he launched himself at Piper, both of his blades slamming into Piper's staff and cutting two thin slices into the metal of the pole. Reacting quickly to try and take the initiative, Piper spun her staff into a vertical position, throwing Aerrow off balance and freeing her to counter attack with relative impunity. However, Night Aerrow recovered faster than expected and scissored his blades to catch her staff in a vice grip. He then dropped flat on Piper's ride and kicked her while pulling backwards with his blades at the same time. These conflicting momentums caused Piper to lose her grip on her staff and she found herself in free fall an instant later. Apparently she was no match for Aerrow's combat skill, Piper contemplated as she deployed her parachute and began gently drifting down to the terra below. Then again, he had a lot more experience currently, especially considering how many Sky Knights he had defeated since joining the Cyclonians.

As she neared touch down, she was surprised and dismayed to find Night Aerrow waiting for her nearby. Seeing where she was going to land, he started striding purposefully toward her landing zone, pulling out his blades and igniting them as he did so. Piper swung herself back and forth, trying to change her downward trajectory and avoid an immediate confrontation, but Aerrow threw one of his blades with deadly precision and cut through two of her parachute cords, dropping her to the ground from nearly thirty feet up. Not prepared for such a tactic, Piper still recovered enough to somewhat land on her feet, but the sudden pain that shot through her legs disrupted her balance and she quickly fell onto her knees.

"Now, this ends." Night Aerrow said, standing over her, "You have no weapons, no sky ride and I have only to twitch my wrist and your life will end."

"I'll never give up." Piper said vehemently, glaring at both Night Aerrow and the blade hovering just millimeters away from her neck.

"That's not the point." Night Aerrow replied snidely as he slammed her in the chest with an open palm, knocking the wind out of Piper and plunging her into the welcoming embrace of unconsciousness.

Starling whirled about like a dervish, leaping onto skimmers and disposing of their pilots before leaping back to the safety of her own ride as the duplicate Talon's vehicles vanished. Despite her years of experience and her skill, the sheer number of Talons was quickly wearing her down, especially since for every duplicate she dispatched two seemed to take its place. Already the other Sky Knights who had charged forward with her had been shot out of the sky, she could not even see any other Knights through the cloud of Talons that surrounded her and she knew in that instant that she would soon be shot out of the sky as well. A distant glimmer that shot through the Cyclonian lines told her that at least some of the terra's defense cannons were still operational, although the constant barrages raining down from the frigates and destroyers would likely change that soon enough. Not to mention that massive devastator that evidently was now the flagship of the Cyclonian fleet; which was busy raining fire down on one of the primary anti-air emplacements while at the same time clearing the airspace around it of all air traffic. Undeterred, Starling continued to fight onward, smacking one Talon straight off his skimmer before leaping onto another Switchblade and throwing the Talon off, then leaping back to her skimmer. A red bolt of energy suddenly zipped by her, alerting her to the presence of a new, more dangerous opponent.

"Hello, Starling." The Dark Ace said in a mocking tone as he flew toward her, his weapon at the ready. Without waiting for any come back from her however, the Dark Ace leapt onto her skimmer and launched a furious series of strikes which Starling was barely able to deflect. Taking advantage of the lull in his assault, Starling swung at him with her nunchuku, forcing the Dark Ace to leap above her weapons and right into the path of her kick as she used the momentum of her strike to spin herself about. The Dark Ace saw the blow coming however and blocked with his arm, countering an instant later with a vicious downward swing that nearly sliced into Starling's shoulder. Starling whipped her nunchuku upwards in an attempt to disarm her opponent, but the Dark Ace had already leapt upward, launching his move straight into Starling. Thankfully, she was able to roll out of the way and avoid the worst of the assault but as a result the bolt smashed into her ride, damaging several vital components and sending her into a tail spin toward the terra below. As she crawled out from the wreckage of her skimmer (she had not leapt free since she knew of the Dark Ace's penchant for cutting parachute cords), Starling slammed her fist into the dirt in frustration; had she not been worn down from fighting all the Talons previously, she would have hopefully put up a better fight. A sudden flash from above caught her attention and Starling glanced upward to see the Dark Ace charging up his move. Knowing that she was probably his target, Starling scrambled to her feet and took off at a sprint, heading for the fortress that had quickly been constructed as a last line of defense.

As she topped one of the hills near the fortress, Starling could see that the citadel was already besieged, massive lances of energy spearing through the swarms of Talons to impact against the frigates and destroyers that served as the heavy siege platforms and were doing most of the damage to the structure. Not wanting to give the Dark Ace a clean shot, she hurried onward, speeding up to keep ahead of the energy bolts she heard slamming into the ground behind her. The man was persistent if nothing else, but the fort would provide cover for her and force him to abandon his attack. Suddenly she spotted a lone figure stagger- running across the terra, likely another Sky Knight who had been shot down. Knowing that the Dark Ace would be quick to pick up such a vulnerable target, Starling whirled around and threw an arc of energy at her pursuers before racing over toward the stumbling figure. As she approached however, she recognized the figure…

"Piper!" Starling said as she grabbed the Storm Hawk by the arm and began pulling her toward safety. "What are you doing?"

"Fought… Aerrow and… lost." Piper said haltingly as she stumbled along behind Starling. "He left… me to be cap… tured…"

"We'll deal with that later!" Starling interrupted, focusing their attentions back on the more pressing issue at hand. Piper was out of breath clearly, and was probably injured in other ways, judging on her limp, but she should still be able to make it to the fort with Starling's help. Provided the Dark Ace did not fry them first, she thought wryly as a flurry of energy bolts blasted several craters in the field behind them, a hallmark of the Dark Ace's rage at her earlier counter-attack. However, the evasive actions he had taken to evade her attack had forced him into an undesirable avenue of attack and the fleeing pair could easily dodge out of the way of any threatening attack, a small blessing Starling was glad for. They were going to make it to the fortress, provided they kept their wits about them.

As she ran through the gates of the citadel, Starling passed Piper off to a waiting medic to get checked out and then hurried onto the battlements without pause. The first thing she saw gave her hope as she saw the Dark Ace fly off in frustration. The second thing she noticed however was less optimistic: the Cyclonian destroyers were landing in the terra and deploying Talons, along with some strange vehicles that Starling had never seen before. She recognized it as a kind of pincer maneuver, most of the destroyers would remain above, cutting off any air escape while the ground forces crushed the Sky Knights. Luckily, the Cyclonians did not know the full extent of the tunnel system underneath the surface, so they still had a secure escape route should the worst happen. To say nothing of the Sky Knights she and Piper had sent on a "special mission." Such precautions ensured that the Cyclonians would lose in the long run, even if it took a hundred years for the Sky Knights to recover.

Onboard her flagship, Master Cyclonis watched the final stages of the aerial battle with amusement, only a few Sky Knights remained in the air and they would soon be shot down by the overwhelming numbers of Talons arrayed against them. Only a few carriers had partaken in the battle and none of them remained, each had been reduced to a burning hulk slowly decaying on the terra below. The next stage of the battle would be the land battle that would crush the Sky Knights still here and then she would add every captured Sky Knight to her crystalline collection as a memorial to her victory. Victory was assured, especially considering that she still had a couple surprises up her sleeves.

Unknown Realm…

"It is done my liege, it is now ensured that Master Cyclonis will win and control the entire Atmos, if only for a little while." The darkened figure said, speaking from a free floating energy screen that floated amidst the billions of chess boards surrounding the king of the Specters.

"Perfect, you have done well… Well enough to be granted a provisional membership, servitor." The Ageless Specter replied, dispersing the energy screen as the figure bowed and disappeared. The last variable was gone, Cyclonia would win, for now… Without his covert support however, they would not be able to hold on to the Atmos, and the Sky Knights would turn the tide against them; a quick and agile strike force was almost always victorious against the larger, slower moving force. That had been proven many times, in many different multi-verses under many different circumstances; well, provided the smaller force could avoid traps and capture, but with the Storm Hawk's assistance, that should not be too much of a problem. That was not even mentioning the support his opposition would lend, she had wanted the Sky Knights to win, but she moved too slowly to prevent what he had done. She would simply pick up the broken pieces and try to mend what had gone wrong without realizing that recent events had been guided by another.

"As Master Cyclonis once said: '…and so it begins…'" the Ageless Specter chuckled to himself as he watched the remaining battle unfold before him.


	33. Chapter 33

**Darkening Skies: Knightfall**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 5**

Starling swung herself about in a vicious butterfly kick that connected solidly with at least one of the Talons surrounding her, sending the hapless man flying over the crenellations on the fortress walls. This battle was not going well, she contemplated as a massive explosion rocked the battlements they were fighting on, the Talons had used those new armored ground vehicles to bash through the barricaded doors of the fortress and then attacked en masse. Already they had seized the courtyard and were now working their way around the walls, trying to reach the bridge that served as the only access to the keep in the center of the impromptu castle. It was vitally important that the Talons not secure the bridge before all the Sky Knights could retreat across since the keep had the only direct access route to the escape tunnels beneath them. At least with Finn, Piper and Junko holding that end of the line they could probably prevent the Talons from advancing too quickly. However, there was little chance of holding the greater part of the fortress, a conclusion further reinforces as Starling noticed the Talons rigging up ladders to bypass the Sky Knight positions.

"Fall back!" she yelled, noticing that Piper had already ordered her side to do the same, "I'll stay behind to cover you!" As the Knights for both sides of the wall began their retreat onto the bridge, Starling quickly grabbed several of the other retreating Sky Knights, including Junko and Finn, volunteering them to cover the retreat. All told, there were about a dozen of them forming a bulwark at the entry to the bridge.

"Starling! Come on!" Piper yelled from behind them a few minutes later, "Everyone's inside except your group!"

"Prepare the last defensive measures we have left!" Starling yelled back, "We'll hold them off until you're ready!"

"But Starling…" Piper pleaded.

"Go!"

With reluctance, Piper turned away from the entrance to face the Sky Knights gathered inside the keep, looking across their worried yet determined faces. Things were going badly, they had every reason to be worried and scared, particularly considering what was going to happen next according to her plan. They needed some form of encouragement if this was going to work.

"Don't worry everyone," Piper said with a reassuring smile on her face as she walked over to the secure bunker that served as the control center for the keep defenses, "I've planned for this, there are shield crystals set up all over in here and escape tunnels beneath us." At her explanation, the other Sky Knights seemed to relax somewhat, which was a good thing. "Of course, we're only going to need the shield crystals, right?" she continued in an encouraging tone.

"Right!" a chorus of voices answered.

"Glad you agree." Piper said, activating the shield crystals and trapping the grouped Sky Knights inside a powerful energy bubble, "After all, if you escaped, Master Cyclonis would be most displeased…"

Starling quickly and quietly backed out the entrance of the keep, hoping that Piper had not noticed her standing in the doorway. Piper was on the Cyclonians' side? It seemed inconceivable given all the work the two of them had put into ensuring that the Sky Knights would survive any outcome of this fight, which meant that Night Aerrow must have done something to her during their fight. Of course, that was secondary to the consideration of how they would escape this impromptu trap. The control bunker Piper was in was impossible for a single person to storm and they did not have enough people with them to both take the bunker and hold off the Cyclonian attack. There were only a few other courses of action left open to them at this point…

Suddenly however, a massive explosion shook the fortress as the main store of energy and eruption crystals and the end of the bridge exploded due to fire from the Talons below. The shockwave from the explosion nearly knocked the remaining Sky Knights off the bridge and the explosion itself blasted a huge crater in the ground. The Talons around them however, had not had the structure of the bridge to shield them and were all unconscious or had dispersed into flashes of light. It would probably take the remaining Talons several minutes to reform ranks and attack again. Starling noticed immediately afterward that the crater was deep enough to reach the tunnels hidden below the surface, providing another alternative preferable to their previous options.

"Everyone, down into the crater!" Starling yelled, hoping to escape while the Talons were still recovering from the blast.

"What about Piper and the other Sky Knights?" Junko asked in confusion as the other Sky Knights started racing to the crater and leaping in.

"Later!" Starling said, shoving the Wallop in after the others.

An hour later…

Master Cyclonis walked amidst the ruins of the Sky Knight fortress, a small smirk on her face the only indication of the glee she really felt. Best to not let the minions know that they had indeed done a good job, they might get overconfident and there was still much fighting to be done. Starling and at least a dozen Sky Knights had escaped the trap that she, Piper and Night Aerrow had set up, fleeing through the labyrinthine tunnels that under laid the terra. Not to mention the Sky Knights that Piper had arranged to be off-terra at the time of the attack and the Ancients, who had not even participated in the fight. Well, she had already planned on ways to secure her new empire from assault, and that would leave her plenty of free time to explore other interests, including some she had not realized she had before. Not to mention her new friend reborn once more…

"Hi Master Cyclonis!" Piper said eagerly as she looked up from the various crystals she was examining, "Did you already add those annoying Sky Knights to your collection?"

"Hi Piper, yes, they're already a part of my collection. And what are you up to? Examining the various crystals mined here?"

"Yes, these crystals are actually quite high grade, I'm sure they will make fine additions to Cyclonian crystal stores."

"Indeed, I'm certain they will. In the meantime however, I need you to draw up some blueprints…"

Open skies near Terra Xoam…

Starling breathed a sigh that conveyed both relief and defeat simultaneously. True, her force had escaped and managed to rendezvous with the other Sky Knights here near Terra Xoam, home of the Forbidden City. Things had not gone as planned, but the fact that they had escaped provided some hope for Starling, perhaps their luck had not totally abandoned them. Of course, she had yet to tell everyone about Piper's betrayal, but perhaps some misdirection would save morale… Simply telling them that Piper was in a deep undercover mission might be better than the simple truth; it would be a necessary deception that would keep all hope from being lost. But should it backfire, no one would trust her at a time when trust was most crucial. So it must be that Piper would be vilified in order to save Atmosia, hopefully they would understand…


	34. Chapter 34

**Darkening Skies: Knightfall**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 6**

The Great Expanse…

Marrshal carefully worked his way through decaying passages of the ancient hulks, careful to avoid damaging any part of the ruined battleships lest they collapse. Several Talons followed him, carefully threading their way along the path he was marking out with chalk, his warnings of the potentially deadly consequences of straying from the path enough to convince them to dutifully stick to the trail. Knowing they were likely quite stressed out from the byzantine nature of the route, Marrshal reassured them that they were close to their final destination, prompting a relieved sigh from the Talons behind him. Sometimes the Talons could be so predictable, hence why his ranks generally were small compared to those of the other commanders since he hated such predictability, although he did value dependability… Probably why so many Talons that went through training for his command went insane and had to be confined for their own safety.

At long last, the group reached their destination: a large egg-shaped chamber located in the heart of what had once been the largest vessel in the ghost fleet. Time and foolish scavengers had left their mark on the relic however and nearly a third of the vessel had disappeared in the uncounted ages it had lain here; skeletal framework and lone girders of some unknown metal indicated where portions of the vessel had fallen away and been impaled on the rocky spires below. Even here signs of the relentless decay of time could be seen where deck plates had fallen off their supporting frames, rust having eroded through whatever bindings were holding the ship together. The Crystal Forge itself was an impressively simple machine composed of sixteen curved spines of clear crystal arranged around a single hollow crystal tube that ran from the floor to the ceiling. Inside the tube were two additional crystals; one was a ring of blood red crystal that floated at the same height the crystal spines reached to, the other was a small dish made of deep blue crystal that evidently served as the focusing element of the device based on Marrshal's own observations. Beyond that though, he truly had only the most general idea of how the machine functioned. This expedition would change all that however, provided they survived such an extended stay this close to the Great Expanse.

"Sir?" one of the Talons asked, intruding on his thoughts, "I don't think we'll be able to move that device like Master Cyclonis wants."

"Of course we will not be able to move it right now; the device is quite clearly integrated into the vessel." Marrshal replied in an even tone. If these fool Talons could recognize such a problem after a moment's glance, what made them think he had not seen it before? Then again, they had only the vaguest idea of who he was so he could understand their desire to state the obvious and possibly earn points with him that might lead to a later promotion. He had no intention of serving their ambitions. "Our lady clearly would understand that and does not expect us to simply pack the device up and bring it to her."

"But she ordered us to…"

"Aware of what she asked of us you may be, but aware of the full implications you clearly are not. Now, go and see where those conduits lead and scout the vessel for any hostile entities." Marrshal said, indicating the teal cylinders of crystal that ran into the metal receptacles the spines were set into and then ran under the corroding deck plates to other sections of the ship. "Be careful, it would be most unfortunate if you were to fall through the floor and into the empty void below."

As the Talons skulked away, shaken by his evident delight at the thought of them falling into the empty air below, Marrshal turned back to the various consoles surrounding the device. There had to be some notes left over, no civilization this advanced left behind records on decayable medium, the residents of the Forbidden City had certainly known better than that. Finally, after several minutes of searching, he found what he was looking for: sheets of flat crystal with some archaic text etched into the smooth orange surfaces of the plates. The language was difficult to read, even his years of study in ancient and forgotten dialects only barely allowed him to translate the words written on the sheets.

_To anyone who might find this fleet, know this:_

_We of the Stormweaver Order have been maligned as oblivion incarnate for the one we serve is malevolence incarnate and it was by his order and command that we made war upon the foolishly complacent people of the Atmos. Such fools could never hope to comprehend our true purpose._

_So we declared war on the terras now desolate within this, what is now called the Great Expanse as predicted by our Dark Oracle. They stood little chance against us, and we would have won the war save for a fateful encounter here at the borders of this forsaken region. It was here that we encountered that accursed order known as the Ancients, the Sky Knights as it were. They laid waste to our fleet and bound our soldiers within this zone with massive crystal energies that we had never seen before. So did they create the Great Expanse to hide the truth of the horrors we unleashed. We escaped though, and pursued our enemies across the Atmos, trying to find where they hid. In battle after battle they defeated us until they finally bound the majority of us remaining within an eternal sleep. My two followers and I escaped however and came here to watch these ruins and nurture our chance for retaliation. The energy left is not enough however, and we will not live to see our hope renewed and so I leave this message that our descendents might know what to do._

_Also know that they were broken, betrayed by one of their own seeking glory and that betrayal weakened the binds that hold us and our creations. To those who come after, claim your birthright and lead our forces against the fools, destroy them all. For we are the storm, we cannot be stopped and we shall make the Atmos pay for their transgressions against us._

_Matyrn V'latice, Caretaker of the Ruins_

As he finished reading the account, Marrshal tossed the sheets onto the console before him, slapping his hand down an instant later to stop the plates from rattling around as they settled.

"Well, these are very interesting, but utterly useless with regards to understanding the functioning of this device…" Marrshal mused to himself and he slowly circled around the entire structure. The crystal spines were completely smooth, without markings of any kind. Whatever secrets the device held, it clearly was not going to yield them to him without a lot of hard work on his part. This suspicion was confirmed a moment later as the Talons returned, reporting that the conduits ended by plugging into sockets connected to rings of a similarly colored crystal which surrounded a cloud of emerald crystal shards contained within a glass tube. All of it was very interesting and ultimately useless to understanding how the device actually functioned. After hearing the report of each Talon in turn, he casually dismissed them to go and set up a perimeter and inform the scientists he had brought that it was safe to come onboard. While he waited for the scientists to make their way to the chamber, Marrshal contemplated what he did know. From the reports, he had concluded that each of the 'generators' for the device were equidistant from the core of the Forge. This was likely crucial to the proper functioning of the machine, although only time would tell.

"Reporting for duty sire." His scientists said in flat tones as they walked into the Forge chamber.

"Excellent, make a thorough study of everything here on this vessel and keep those fool Talons in line. I shall return to Cyclonia to make a preliminary report, you shall make the final report. Keep in mind the ultimate objectives here and make sure that those Talons never reveal to anyone what was found here." Marrshal said; heading for the door and pocketing the crystal sheets he had discovered as he passed by where he had laid them. These sheets were of particular interest to him and merited special attention, especially considering the information they contained.

Starling sat quietly on the launch deck of the Condor, gazing at the pale sunrise as it dawned on a new day… a day now ruled by the iron hand of Cyclonia and nearly devoid of hope. That they would fight on and they would eventually triumph was the one hope they all clung to now. She had informed the remaining Sky Knights of everything that had transpired, including her own theories on what was really happening to the Storm Hawks. They were skeptical, but at least they were receptive to the conclusions presented. It was a start, and they had at least agreed to try and find a way to save the two wayward Sky Knights, particularly when Starling pointed out that the two would have a good deal of information pertaining the Cyclonian operations and plans if they could be turned back to the good fight. With motivated (if not particularly hopeful, what an odd combination…) troops at her back, the real question for Starling was where to go from here. Although her first inclination was to rescue the enslaved Storm Hawks, practicality dictated that they try to find and rescue the missing Sky Knights first. At least with more Sky Knights on their side, they would pose a significant threat to Cyclonia again. They would recover from this and they would restore the good name of the Storm Hawks, Starling swore it.


	35. Unity of the Master

**Darkening Skies: Unity of the Master**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 1**

_It has now been a little over a year since we fled the advancing Cyclonian forces on Terra Bast and became a roving group of associated carriers. During that time period much has changed, particularly within the grand Cyclonian Empire born out of our defeat on Bast. The first sign was the building of tall spires on every terra, generally somewhere near the geographical center of the landmass. As we discovered on one of our next raids, these spires held some kind of portal crystal that allowed the Cyclonian fleet to respond to an attack within minutes of our initial attack. The second sign was more ominous and consisted of the fortification of Cyclonia proper with two new terras. The first one to appear was a volcanic terra that was quickly built up as a manufacturing center and foundry; while the second new landmass was a massive towering ring of land that formed a defensive wall around the entirety of Terra Cyclonia. Combined with the four floating fortresses that now orbit the central tower of Cyclonia, this defensive perimeter has made infiltration of the terra difficult if not impossible, the only way left to enter being through one of the four gate tunnels through the defensive ring. Clearly Master Cyclonis is hiding something within her capital, and we each have our own pet theories as to what that might be._

_Another major change occurred in the social makeup of Cyclonia, and was a chance I had honestly never expected. In fact, it surprised everyone. About two months after the battle on Terra Bast, Master Cyclonis declared a new social structure whereby the populace would no longer be divided into servants and Talons, but instead would now include a third class, citizens. Citizenship was available only to those who proved themselves to be the best in their field, whether they were servant or Talon, and had many perks such as the right of free enterprise and a limited form of democracy as well as freedom to do as they wished provided it did not endanger the Cyclonian state. It was an effective lure and many terras that had been resisting Cyclonian rule immediately applied for full membership in the empire. In exchange, every former Atmosian was granted citizenship and life supposedly continued on much as before except everyone was united under a single command and some new laws were imposed. They had intended to use the freedoms granted by citizenship to assist our resistance. In reality however, something changed. Since accepting citizenship, the people of every terra have become pro-Cyclonian, completely rejecting the heritage of the Sky Knights. Even the historians of Terra Rex had to flee or else be tried for spreading Sky Knight Propaganda. It has only been recently that we have been able to discover the cause of this strange change in behavior: Master Cyclonis has constructed some form of loyalty enforcement crystal on every terra. This has essentially eliminated any thought of open rebellion, although protests are still allowed as was evidenced a couple months ago when the citizens organized a protest opposing a new tax system. Regardless, it was not a positive development, particularly since these crystals were well hidden to prevent their destruction._

_The question of course was raised as to where the materials for all this building came from, although it was fairly easy to find out. With the exception of the two new terras around Cyclonia, the materials for all the new structures and vessels Cyclonia had built came from the former terras of Free Atmos. The new terras were likely created using some new kind of crystal that Master Cyclonis had forged._

_Despite all these set backs, we have not been without significant victories. Primary among these was the discovery of what had happened to the missing Sky Knights: they had been captured and imprisoned in crystal by Master Cyclonis, held in a macabre gallery in the throne room of Cyclonia. Using samples I was able to obtain during a covert infiltration, those among us skilled in crystal manipulation have begun to work on a means to free our comrades. We have continued to harass the Cyclonians at every turn, attacking any target possible before disappearing as reinforcements arrive. It has been slow, but we have been slowly wearing the Cyclonians down without taking too many losses ourselves and that is what is really important. My one fear is that the others will grow tired of the fight and decide to simply surrender to what seems inevitable, but I doubt the others will entertain thoughts of that variety yet. Morale, fueled by a determination to reclaim what has been lost, remains high despite the shortage of supplies that has begun to plague us with increasing frequency. To remedy this, I have sent a small team to infiltrate the nearby city- terra of Terra Polis and procure what we need._

-Starling, personal journal entry written fourteen months after the battle on Terra Bast.

Stork covertly glanced around the corner of one of the many buildings crowded together on Terra Polis, checking to make sure that there were no Talons nearby. So far, they had been fortunate and no Talons were visible, which in his mind was cause for even greater concern. No doubt this was some kind of elaborate trap laid out to ensnare them and lure them to their dooms. At least the end would come quickly…

"See anyone Stork?" Finn whispered quietly as he held his crossbow at the ready.

"No, no one seems to be about, although I'm beginning to think that surrender might not be such a bad idea…" Stork said with a nervous chuckle.

"Snap out of it, that's just the stupid crystals located here trying to take over." One of the other Sky Knights snapped quietly, "Don't let them!"

"I know…" Stork replied miserably as he turned back to check around the corner. "The storehouse is just across the way, no guards appear to be present."

"Hopefully a sign of overconfidence, after all, we haven't been seen in this sector of Atmos before so they have no reason to expect a raid, eh?" Billy Rex added; an eager grin on his face, likely the result of his excitement at doing something so risky. With quiet nods to each other, they all reached the same conclusion and quickly made their way across the street to surround the storehouse entrance. Without a word, Stork silently began working on the locks, opening the door a moment later as he successfully cracked the locking mechanism. The raiding party slipped inside, breaking up into pairs and heading for the different sections containing the food, crystals and parts they needed to maintain their resistance. Knowing that teammates work best together, Finn made sure to divide the pairs by squadron, meaning that he was stuck with Stork. Together the two of them made their way to the crystal storeroom, only to find the chamber completely empty.

"I knew this was a trap…" Stork said as someone began applauding them from above, likely from one of the catwalks ringing the room.

"Congratulations, you are getting much better at this whole game of infiltration, this time you managed to make it through my third line of sentries before you were spotted. I commend your efforts, since that now means you are enough of a threat for me to engage you directly during one of your raids. Well, excusing the rather nasty incident forty seven days ago, but you really should have known better Finn." The voice of Nimbus rang out as the lights in the vault turned on, revealing the spy and at least a dozen Talons.

"Nimbus!" Finn said in a scathing tone. The infernal man had been dogging their footsteps every step of the way for years now, laying subtle traps and taunting them whenever possible. As Finn had found out some time ago, the weasel played the overconfident yet foolish part well, but it was all a charade, the scar on his leg near the femoral artery was evidence that the man took everything seriously. In that fight, Finn had not even been able to fire a shot before Nimbus closed the distance between the two and stabbed him. He had learned a valuable lesson from that engagement though: do not underestimate the traitor.

"Actually, I must confess that is not my real name, just could not resist playing with you Sky Knights a little. If you want the real Nimbus, you can have him back." The suddenly nameless man said as his tossed the limp form of the reluctant Sky Knight onto the floor in front of Stork and Finn.

"Fine, Shar then." Finn shot back, trying to throw the man off balance.

"Not quite, Shar has been dead for some time now." The man said as he leapt down onto the warehouse floor, landing with a feline grace. Privately, Marrshal conceded that Shar was not really dead, but it was best to sow as much confusion as possible and this whole charade would certainly accomplish that. As he approached the duo, he saw that Finn had just reached a decision on what they should do next.

"Stork, Finn has decided that you should run and get the others, you should go and do that since otherwise your fellow Storm Hawk is going to join Shar in the afterlife." Marrshal said mockingly, enjoying the look of surprise that blossomed on Finn's face as he correctly recited the exact decision the blond Storm Hawk had reached.

"Stork… do as he says, he's right; that was what I was going to say." Finn said hesitantly as he dropped into a fighting stance.

"Not going to waste time shooting me?" Marrshal taunted as Stork raced out into the hallway to find the raid members. "You know, it is rather interesting that I was able to predict where you would strike, is it not?"

"Do you ever be quiet?" Finn asked in irritation, having heard this exact same question at least four times that he could remember.

"Afraid not, deal with it… So, as I was saying, it was easy to figure out what your next move was, given previous battle data." The spymaster said as he whirled and flipped at Finn with dual knife hands in an attempt to cut off his nerves with each blow. Finn managed to dodge the first two strikes, but a third one caught him mid- thigh on his left leg, causing everything below that point to tingle with partial numbness. In response to the hit, Marrshal spun up into a leap and slammed back down with a crippling axe kick that Finn barely managed to dodge in time. The worst part though was that the spymaster kept up his monologue the entire time by using his shapeshifting abilities to enhance the effectiveness of his lungs. "You see, with the capture of Atmosia I was able to find out exactly what each terra was good at producing, storing, growing, and etcetera. I then observed that your fleet was looked a little ragged around the edges in the last full on confrontation. Knowing that you Sky Knights take such pride in your skimmers, I concluded you would be conducting a raid for crystals and other supplies. So I thought to myself: 'Where are they least likely to hit?' And what do you know; here you are exactly where you should be!"

"Dude, you need a hobby…" Finn retorted as he ducked under another knife hand. Unfortunately, that put him right him the path of a vicious whip kick that sent him flying across the room and into a wall. As he recovered, he looked up to find his opponent staring down at him, wearing Nimbus's face as if it were his own.

"Dude, what are you?" Finn stammered as he looked at the unconscious form of the real Nimbus lying on the floor across the room from him. Even from this distance, he could tell his fellow Sky Knight was uninjured externally, so whoever this guy was, he was using a cloaking crystal of some kind.

"Finn, are you alright?" Another Sky Knight yelled as the remaining five people in the team rushed in, weapons held at the ready. "Nevermind…" the same Sky Knight added after seeing the current situation.

"Talons, engage." Marrshal said simply, snapping his fingers to emphasize his point. As the dozen or so Talons leapt down into the impromptu arena, Marrshal himself charged toward the new arrivals, leaping up into the air and slamming the ground near them with Wallop arms. As the group was knocked off their feet, he shifted back to his 'normal' human arms and attacked the nearest Sky Knight. Suddenly an explosion rocked the room as the ceiling began to collapse due to several shots from the Sky Knight carriers that had suddenly arrived. A moment later Starling and several more Sky Knights dropped down into the room, quickly engaging and defeating the Cyclonians present except the lone spymaster.

"Well Starling, it is about time you showed up." Marrshal said in a cheery voice as he vanished in a glowing aura, reappearing a moment later on the roof of the building near the edge where it had fallen in. As he did so, the lower walls of the warehouse slid up to reveal several squads of Talons along with one of the 'tanks' they had used during the battle at Terra Bast. "You see, I have been preparing this ambush for months and you finally took the bait."

"But you said…" Finn started before the figure held up a hand to cut him off.

"Misinformation, I tend to do that sometimes regarding how I figure things out… Prevents people from figuring out how I do what I do."

"Fantastic…"

"Is it not? Well, enough talking for now. Talons commence your attack."

On his order, the Talons moved forward to engage the trapped Sky Knights in battle. However, Starling had no intention of fighting, she had simply recognized the trap when one of the team members reported an absence of Talons and had rushed to rescue her team. A moment later, a lift platform slammed down next to the group of Sky Knights and everyone quickly climbed aboard, easily knocking away the few Talons that managed to reach the platform in time. Before they were even secure in the carrier, the pilot had already begun accelerating along their escape route and within a few minutes, they were safely away from the terra.

As the carrier faded into the distance, Marrshal shook his head in disappointment. This was not how he had wanted the evening to end; too little frustration had been bestowed upon the resistance. Well, even the best laid plans of mice and men… At least he had left them with a mystery and another Sky Knight and that certainly was enough to cause Starling some aggravation. Not to mention he had likely deepened their desperation and that was enough to serve his purposes for now, as well as set the stage for later maneuvers he had planned. With a smile on his face, he vanished into a glowing nimbus of energy as he teleported through the portal crystal back to Cyclonia.

"Dang it! That freak!" Starling raged to herself as she pounded her fist into the table on the Condor's bridge, startling Stork. "We're never going to accomplish anything with him lurking around dogging us! We need resources to rescue our trapped friends and this raid would have given us the materials we need! And to top it all off, we don't even have a clue as to who he might be!"

"Does it really matter?" Stork asked pragmatically, recovering from his initial alarm at Starling's outburst.

"Yes, it does, because if we know who he is, then we can find out more about him, learn about his past and possibly find a way to counter him."

"I see, well, if nothing else, we do know he is devious and prepares for lots of possible outcomes."

"Kind of like you… In the preparation department I mean… Stork, would you say your level of preparation is typical for your standard Merb?"

"Yes, but if you're thinking that this guy might be a Merb, keep in mind that he always appears as a human, even Piper's blocker crystal test confirmed he wasn't using a crystal of any kind to disguise himself and it's kind of difficult to make a Merb look like a human. Even without that fact though, he doesn't display any of the caution Merbs normally have."

"You have a good point there, nevermind then, he probably isn't a Merb, although it was a good theory and fits a lot of the current evidence we have."

"Yeah… Hold up, contact at two o'clock, we have a large carrier of some kind inbound! Oh, we're doomed!" Stork said as he spotted running lights moving through the darkened sky.

"Alert the other carriers that the Cyclonians might have found us, I want everyone at battle stations!"

Within minutes, every Sky Knight in the rebel fleet was awake and poised to engage in a desperate battle. Tension ran thick, increasing exponentially as the dark bulk of the cruiser advanced on their position in complete silence. About five hundred yards away however, the cruiser slowed to a stop and deployed three skimmers which made their way toward the waiting rebels. Starling quickly grabbed a pair of binoculars; curious as to whom these people might be…

"Everyone, stand down, we have nothing to worry about." Starling said as she recognized the approaching figures and rushed to meet them as they landed on the launch deck of the Condor.

"Greetings Starling, it is good to see that some Sky Knights escaped. We are deeply regretful that we had to leave, but we have quelled those who endanger all of Atmos and have now returned to help you." Vespos said as he and the other Ancients bowed in both greeting and contrition.


	36. Chapter 36

**Darkening Skies: Unity of the Master**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 2**

Night Aerrow laughed with amusement as he easily dodged a strike from one of the Claw Squadron trainees and smacked the man with the broadside of his blade's metal portion. After all, he did not want to permanently injure one of the best Talons they had, even if they still were relatively clumsy after nearly a year of training. Despite that however, these new Claws would probably be able to take on an average Sky Knight if the odds were two on one, although much more training would be needed to bring them up to the standards his dearest Master Cyclonis wanted.

"Come on now, you've had nearly a year of training, surely you can at least match a low level Sky Knight in combat effectiveness." Night Aerrow admonished the Claw trainee as the man lost his grip on his own energy blade, "This kind of sloppiness is not acceptable for a Claw, only for a Talon is it understandable."

"Apologies sir, I shall redouble my efforts to improve my reaction times."

"I should certainly hope so… And there's no time to start like the present!" Night Aerrow said as he launched into another series of attacks on the man, who dove for his dropped weapon in a desperate bid to defend himself. Behind him, the Dark Ace applauded the maneuver Night Aerrow cut the trainee off from his weapon, causing the man to run screaming from the Cyclonian Knight.

Watching the duel from a balcony above the arena, Master Cyclonis chuckled to herself as she watched her boyfriend play with the hapless Claw trainees. However, she had other matters to attend to, since Marrshal had just returned from his operation on Terra Polis and was making his report.

"So, you allowed the resistance to escape then Marrshal?" she asked coolly as she turned back to face the spymaster.

"As per your orders my lady, after all, you wanted some fairly impotent amusement to play with until the Claws are ready to crush them."

"True enough. Now then, any news from the research team stationed at the Crystal Forge?"

"I am afraid not my lady."

"Too bad, I expected something interesting to come out of the research before now." Master Cyclonis said in a slightly forlorn tone as she turned back to watch Night Aerrow draw an additional three Claw trainees into the fight. "Besides the Duplication Crystal, nothing interesting has come out of this entire research project. Maybe Piper will have something fascinating for me to look at today, after all, her crystal studies are coming along quite nicely."

"It is unfortunate that the Crystal Forge has been so adamant in its refusal to reveal the mysteries of its operation, but I am certain that we shall discover how it works given time. Of course, until then, I agree that Piper will undoubtedly have something interesting for your examination; she has done much work with regards to the development of new crystals. Most recently the Gaia Crystal responsible for creating those new terras you are so proud of. Then again, you were the one who provided the energy necessary for the crystal to work properly so it is as much your creation as hers…" Marrshal said in an idle tone, concluding that Master Cyclonis was likely finished speaking to him. "I shall continue to track the resistance fleet to make sure that they do not strike any of our vital areas."

"Excellent, you may go now." Master Cyclonis said as she turned back to watch the battle developing below her. By the looks of things, the Dark Ace was just about to join the fray…

"Having fun?" the Dark Ace said in a friendly voice from the sidelines as Night Aerrow simultaneously blocked attacks from seven of the Claw trainees.

"The time of my life!" Night Aerrow replied charitably as he slid out from under the halted weapons of the students and kicked one of them into the others, "Are you sure you don't want to join in?"

"Hmm… How could I turn down such an open invitation from a friend?" the Dark Ace said happily as he ignited his blade and leapt down from the simulated outcropping he was sitting on. "Two against forty though? Doesn't seem like very fair odds."

"Yeah, for them!" Night Aerrow said, prompting both Cyclonian Knights to share a laugh as they leveled their weapons at the Claw trainees who were scattered across the faux landscape. Picking up on the danger, the other thirty three Claw neophytes stopped their individual training and took up defensive stances. The two knights nodded at each other, knowing exactly what the other planned to do and how they would take advantage of the response from the Claws. To begin, Night Aerrow charged forward with a loud shout, drawing the full attention of all but two of the Claws. As he leapt up to perform his Knight move, the Dark Ace made a note to congratulate the two Claws not distracted by Night Aerrow since keeping awareness of everything that was occurring on the battlefield was a very useful skill. As it was, those two Claws noticed the Dark Ace preparing his move and leapt out of the way as they shouted a warning to their comrades. The warning came too late however and three of the Claws were blasted into unconsciousness, taking them out of the fight. An instant later and Night Aerrow leapt through the gap created by the Dark Ace and smacked down four of the surrounding Claws before they could react. As they turned to face the renewed threat of Night Aerrow, the Dark Ace launched himself at the Claws, smashing them into the ground. Throughout the rest of the short fight, both knights worked together flawlessly, their maniacal laughter reflecting their enjoyment.

"Now then, what have you all learned?" Night Aerrow said confidently as he and the Dark Ace powered down their weapons. "And don't answer that the Dark Ace and I are unbeatable because that is not the lesson we wanted you to learn."

"The correct answer is that you need to always be aware of your surroundings in any battle." The Dark Ace said as most of the Claws looked at him obliviously. "Not to mention that teamwork can be crucial to victory, provided you are not Night Aerrow or I. Now, go work on your combat techniques and make some progress or we might just have to schedule some enhanced practice again."

Starling sat up in her chair on the Condor's bridge having just finished a recitation of the past year's events to Vespos in order to catch him up to the situation. Her summary had included everything from Piper's betrayal all the way to the recent encounter with the unknown Cyclonian leader. As her tale progressed, she noticed an increasingly concerned expression on Vespos's face and that was enough to worry her.

"What is it Vespos?"

"This unknown Cyclonian you describe… I believe he was mentioned in the predictions of the Dark Oracle, and if that is true, then he may be the key to this entire mess." Vespos said slowly, as if unsure of whether or not the man would truly show up in the predictions. "Allow me a moment to check." He continued as he pulled out an ancient looking scroll. Without delay or further explanation (not that one was really needed), Vespos quickly began running through the scroll. After several minutes, Vespos stopped and nodded his head in silent agreement with himself.

"Here it is… Rather odd that he is only mentioned once and then only in a single passage at the start of the Second Prediction. It simply says that '_the puppet-master shall pull the strings for his master to ensure that all comes to pass as predicted_.' Considering the importance implied with that statement, it is surprising that there is no further mention of him. This provides all the more evidence that he is the key to this crisis, I believe if we can eliminate him we can avert further disaster."

"A nice thought, but we're hardly in a position to be spending our time on such things, particularly considering his position within the Cyclonian power hierarchy. After we resolve this crisis, we can pursue him to the ends of the known Atmos and beyond."

"I would not recommend the beyond part." Vespos said dryly, "There are things there no one was meant to witness."

"What does that mean?" Starling asked, but Vespos simply responded with a shrug, indicating she would get no further explanation from the Ancient leader. "Okay, nevermind… You know though, you and the other Ancients have a lot of secrets; it makes it kind of difficult to trust you completely, no offense intended."

"None taken, but we cannot change our policy with regards to the secrets we keep. There are some things that are simply too frightening for you to know and some secrets that should never be revealed to the world and are better left forgotten. I hope you understand, we have lived for a thousand years and during that time we have seen atrocities that would make your blood run cold. What is hidden within The Great Expanse is one such example."

"I'm going to guess that you won't tell me what is hidden in the Great Expanse?" Starling asked rhetorically.

"You are catching on… There may come a time when all our secrets will be revealed, but that time is not now."

"I'm not sure I like the circumstances that would force you to reveal those secrets," Starling said with a nervous half-chuckle. "But we have strayed from the main topic I wanted to discuss, namely the rescue of the imprisoned Sky Knights. Your Ancients must be quite skilled with crystals, am I right?"

"Yes, we have learned much. As for the imprisoned Sky Knights, you said that they had been encased in crystal…" Vespos mused quietly to himself. "It was likely Master Cyclonis herself that did this. From my previous experiences with similar means of imprisonment, I would conclude that a leech crystal would be sufficient to free them."

"A leech crystal? Why would those work?"

"Simply put, the Sky Knights are not actually imprisoned within normal crystal, but rather are encased within crafted crystal. This means that the crystals are simply solidified energy constructs that simulate a regular crystal in form and function but not essence. A leech crystal would dissolve them as easily as an eruption crystal melts butter whereas physical force would be useless. Unfortunately, the leech crystals used would definitely explode after absorbing some much energy."

"Not really a problem… and it looks like we finally can rescue our comrades. Now one more question; can we use the same method to help Aerrow and Piper?"

"Without a closer examination of the crystals involved, it is difficult to say… Crystals of that type are easy to build nasty traps into and must be handled with the utmost caution and care. Still, we can free your fellow Sky Knights and that is a good start."


	37. Chapter 37

**Darkening Skies: Unity of the Master**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 3**

Starling carefully made her way through the dimly lit hallways, winding her way through the lower corridors of Cyclonia to where she would be setting up the teleportation crystal the Ancients had provided. Infiltrating Cyclonia had not been easy; it was a simple matter of luck that the Talons guarding the entrance gates had not checked the container she was hiding in. Escaping from the container and making her way down here had been easy enough for someone with her infiltration skills and so far no one had noticed her presence. Well, hopefully so… with that freakish spy around one could never be too certain.

"Hey," a Talon's voice said, starling her into ducking back into a nearby alcove. There should not be any Talons this far down in Cyclonia; these tunnels were mostly used for exhaust. If they had spotted her…

"What is it Kale?" another couple Talons answered in unison, piquing Starling's curiosity. What were this many Talons doing down here?

"Did you hear that the spymaster decided to ditch his Nimbus and Shar identities? I guess he tossed that Nimbus dork onto the ground in front of the resistance and declared that he was not really nimbus."

"Really? No way, the spymaster rarely discards one of his identities… I mean, I know he can't simultaneously live hundreds of lives all at once so he has to discard some occasionally, but it's odd for him to discard them so publicly. I imagine he didn't reveal his real face though."

"Who can say? I mean have you ever seen that guy's real face? And even if you did, how would you know, he wears so many."

"True, but you know what I heard?"

"Oh, this should be good."

"I heard some rumor going around that he has personal experiences with the Merbs. I bet that was fun."

"I doubt it, the spymaster probably started that rumor himself to toy with the other Talons again, and you know how he loves to do that."

Figuring the conversation was likely only going to degenerate into meaningless banter, Starling continued onward, new conclusions already forming in her mind. Maybe the Merbs had some information on this spymaster… it was a hypothesis worth investigating at some point in any case. Provided that had not been staged for her benefit, but no way would this guy give them that much intentionally. With that conclusion in mind, Starling continued on her way into the depths of Cyclonia.

"Sire?"

"Yes, what is it Kale?" Marrshal said as he continued to read the latest report from the study site. As usual, nothing of import had been discovered yet and the scientists were still working with diligence on solving the mysteries of the Forge.

"Why did you ask me to inform Marcus and Dram about your record with the Merbs? I thought you hated giving out personal information, I mean, we don't even know your actual name."

"Oh do not worry, I simply had a mission for Marcus and Dram to carry out and that message was telling them where they needed to go. You see, the Merbs are resistant to the hypnotic effects of the psionic crystals and have formed an underground resistance on their home terra. The two of them are to infiltrate the group and break it up. You really need to start learning your situational code."

"I see, okay then… do you have anything for me to do in the meantime aside from practicing my sit-code?"

"No, I am afraid not… although if you wish you can check and make sure that all the spy stations throughout Cyclonia are properly hidden and secured."

"Thanks sire." Kale said as he hurried out of Marrshal's office. As the eager young Talon-spy left, Marrshal chuckled to himself. Kale had just been promoted to a Talon-spy and was still a little overexcited, not that Marrshal could blame him. Although he did feel slightly bad about using the boy as a pawn to lay the groundwork for future plans, but one never knew when one's enemies might need to be distracted. Hence why he had ensured that Starling heard the not-so-subtle tips about where they could find information about him. True, they might find out some information about him, but it would do them no good and so he really did not mind dangling that bait in front of the Sky Knights if it accomplished a greater goal. On the other hand, there was no way he was going to let any Cyclonian under him know that he was a Merb, which was why he had misled Kale about the codes used. At least he was already sending Marcus and Dram on another mission to root out some resistance among the Murk Raiders, who had yet to fully embrace the full rule of Master Cyclonis.

Starling breathed a sigh of relief as she reached one of the lowest tunnels in Cyclonia, still safe from detection. This tunnel would serve nicely as their entry and exit point, especially with four Ancients standing guard at each end of the teleportation link. Without further delay, she quickly set up the teleport crystal and the four associated energy crystals that would be used to maintain the link established between the two crystals. With a quick twist, she activated the array and stood back as the four Ancients who would secure this end filed through. Once they had taken up their positions, the remaining Ancients appeared and quickly formed a temporary perimeter as the other Sky Knights from other squadrons entered Cyclonia as well. Only four ancients and the carrier pilots had been left behind, everyone else would be needed for the assault. Once everyone had been assembled, Vespos motioned down the tunnel and all but four Ancients ran quietly after the Ancient leader, headed for the upper corridors of Cyclonia. As they ran through the halls, they took precautions to avoid drawing any unnecessary attention, quickly taking out any Talons that spotted them before an alarm could be sounded. To Starling's surprise, this method managed to get them all the way to the upper levels of the terra and they were soon at the entrance to the throne room of Master Cyclonis. Vespos quietly explained that once they began freeing the Sky Knights trapped inside, it would be only a minute or two at most before the exploding leech crystals brought all of Cyclonia down on them. The other Sky Knights understood and each readied themselves for the combat to come as they filed inside, each taking a leech crystal out of the special protective pouches they were stored in. Each moved quickly to one of the banks of imprisoned Knights and held the crystals close to the gemstone that held their peers trapped in time. Within seconds, the throne room was filled with disoriented Sky Knights who had just been freed from their nightmarish stasis and the leech crystals had been piled around the Cyclonian throne in a symbolic gesture.

"Wha… What is going on here?" Harrier said drowsily as he leaned on a few of the other Sky Knights while he recovered from his imprisonment.

"We're rescuing you, show some appreciation." Vespos hissed quietly as the other Sky Knights recovered from their own ordeals with the help of the resistance Sky Knights.

"An interesting statement, considering the position you now find yourselves in." A scathing voice rang out as the Sky Knights all turned to find Master Cyclonis glaring at them from her throne, the leech crystals they had piled there floating around her and drained of energy. She had also brought her entourage of the Dark Ace, Night Aerrow, Ravess and Snipe with her and Starling was certain she saw the spymaster and Piper hidden in the shadow of the other four.

"And just how do you think the five of you will defeat us?" Harrier declared triumphantly, confident that the Sky Knights would prevail with the odds so stacked in their favor.

"Hmm… Normally you would be quite right Harrier; however, in this case you're dead wrong, emphasis on the dead." Master Cyclonis replied coolly as dozens of crystal spires shot out of the floor of the throne room. Those spires shattered apart to reveal crystalline soldiers that advanced on the startled Sky Knights, leveling energy crystal halberdiers at their targets. "During my spare time I found that I could create a type of living crystal that moved on its own. Combined with my will and other crystals I can create armies of troops to destroy those who oppose me." As she finished her explanation she tossed two phoenix crystals to either side of her throne. In response, two large spires rose up beside her and shattered to reveal two crystalline phoenixes with the phoenix crystals glowing brilliantly in their cores. An instant later and the two massive birds burst into flame, screaming at those who challenged their master.

"I think we should run now…" Starling said quietly, as several other nearby Sky Knights nodded in agreement.

"Get the others out of here; we will cover your escape." Vespos said with finality, leaving no room for argument as he and the other Ancients drew their weapons and activated them in one smooth motion. "Why are you still here? GO!" he said in irritation when Starling and the others did not move. Without waiting for further prodding, Starling and the other Sky Knights ran from the chamber, heading for their original infiltration point, although Starling held back, not wanting to abandon the Ancients. Behind them, the entire wall of the throne room that fronted the hall exploded outward, several Ancients riding on the larger chunks and using them as bases to leap off of and back into the fray. A second later and one of the crystal soldiers skidded out into the hall, three Ancients impaling it and discharging the energy empowering their blades into the statue before it could even begin to recover. The crystal guardian exploded in a furious storm of crystal energies that would have killed the Ancients instantly were it not for their armor combined with their skill at blocking. This final confrontation convinced Starling that she would only get in the way if she stayed and she quickly ran after the other fleeing Sky Knights. However, she only managed to traverse three levels before she ran into an annoying problem.

"Hello Starling, so good to see you again so soon after our last encounter." The Cyclonian spymaster said as he stepped out of the shadows, pointing his oblivion dagger at Starling. The Sky Knight immediately shifted into a defensive position, knowing that this freak would never let her by easily, previous encounters with him had told her that much. Without any further words exchanged between the two, Starling decided to take the initiative, leaping at the spymaster while bringing her nunchuku down in a vicious blow. Marrshal stepped back out of the way and returned with a knife hand aimed at the center of her chest, hoping to collapse her sternum and take her out of the fight quickly. Starling was just as quick to dodge though, stepping back into a back flip that kicked the spymaster's hand up into the air. Marrshal surprised her however by grabbing onto her foot and letting her kick propel him up into the air above her, throwing a full spread of needles down at her from his vantage point. To Starling's continued surprise however, none of the needles connected with her, instead stabbing into the floor plates in a circle around her. She suddenly recognized the danger and slashed through the wires connected to the needles, leaping out of the deadly trap through the hole she had created just before Marrshal kicked off the ceiling and slammed into the floor hands-first. As he impacted, he created a small dent in the metal plates, the force of impact also forcing the wires to cut a network of grooves into the floor within the circle of needles. Starling looked back over her shoulder in horror, if she had not recognized the trap in time… She immediately suppressed a shudder, not wanting to give the Cyclonian anymore information than inevitable. Rather than dwell any further on what could have been, Starling leaped backward, spinning around the smash the Cyclonian across the back with her nunchuku. Marrshal responded by dropping his legs down and, using his arms as a brace as he flipped in place to kick Starling backwards into the nearest wall. Caught completely unawares, Starling took the full brunt of the hit, although her armor thankfully absorbed most of the force behind the impact.

"Like my improved combat style?" Marrshal said confidently as he stood up, his arms shrinking back to their normal length. As he walked over to where Starling lay, he once again pulled out his oblivion dagger, which had somehow disappeared during the course of their fight. Without a word, he pointed the blade at Starling, preparing to finish her off once and for all. However, Starling had been waiting for him to get within striking range and whipped her nunchuku in a quick arc, sending a wave of energy into the approaching spymaster. Without any chance of dodging the counterattack, Marrshal caught it energy full in the abdomen, dropping him where he stood.

"Well, looks like you overestimated your own abilities for once." Starling said as she grabbed the spymaster's arms and tied his wrists together before hauling him to his feet. "Not as nice as if we could rescue our friends, but this should still deal a major blow to the Cyclonians ability to wage war."

"You overestimate my importance… My lady will view my capture as an unfortunate circumstance, but nothing more and I no longer am needed to ensure the dominance of Cyclonia." Marrshal responded gruffly as Starling grabbed his wrists and pushed him forward, leading him to the evacuation point.

"I don't think so spy."

With a quick slash, Vespos finished off the last of the crystalline soldiers that Master Cyclonis had originally summoned to fight against them. As he straightened up and brought his sword into a neutral position, he saw that the crystalmancer had already summoned additional forces to fight the Ancients. He had no intention of staying to fight her however, she was too powerful right now, and her powers combined with the minions at her disposal would spread the Ancients too thin to fight effectively once she began taking them seriously. Not to mention that she had sent her commanders to engage the fleeing Sky Knights in battle in order to prevent them from escaping Cyclonia. Now was as good a time as any to withdraw.

"Ancients, we must protect the others!" Vespos called out, the Ancients responding instantly by dashing from the room as he charged up his most devastating Sky Knight move to delay any pursuit. With a flash, his sword produced a massive spherical shockwave of incandescent energy that expanded outward to illuminate the entire room before suddenly shrinking back to a pinpoint of light and exploding. Massive rings of energy cascaded out from where the point of light had been, cleanly slicing through anything that stood before them. The only exceptions were Vespos himself and Master Cyclonis, who had raised a powerful defense shield that managed to hold off the assault. In the wake of the blast, Master Cyclonis lowered her shield and floated toward Vespos, literally glowing with malevolence.

"**THAT WILL BE QUITE ENOUGH!**" Master Cyclonis roared, the force of her rage blasting Vespos out of the remnants of the throne room. Vespos quickly recovered from the blast, surprised that the ceiling had not collapsed on the crystalmancer, giving him time to escape. A quick look inside the throne room immediately revealed why things had not gone according to plan: although the ceiling had indeed given way, the ruined chunks of the structure were simply hovering in the air over Master Cyclonis, caught in a levitation field. "So, you wanted to collapse my throne room? Well, allow me to grant your wish!"

Immediately following her pronouncement, she hurled one of the larger sections directly at Vespos, attempting to crush him with the debris. Vespos had recovered enough to dodge out of the way in time and he countered by flinging an arc of brilliant energy at her. A shield nimbus flared around Cyclonis in response, easily dispersing the attack.

"You can't win Sky Knight; I'm out of your league." Master Cyclonis taunted as she threw bolt after bolt of crimson energy at Vespos, attempting to fry him before he could counterattack again. Vespos, however, had no intention of sticking around to fight Cyclonis, not without back up at least. So, as he ducked behind a support arch, he pulled out a special smoke bomb and threw it on the floor at his feet, instantly filling the hall with dense smoke and covering his escape as he took off. As soon as he cleared the smoke, Vespos whirled around and discharged a gel crystal into the cloud, rapidly filling the hall where he had been with dense sticky gel. In response, a scream of rage filled the corridor, reverberating off the walls to create a multi-tonal symphony of anger as brilliant red light began to illuminate the gel from within. Knowing she would only be held captive for a few minutes longer at most, Vespos quickly inserted a velocity crystal into a socket in his chest plate and fled down the hall at inhuman speed.

"Alright Cyclonians! Back off and give up Aerrow and Piper or your precious spymaster will be forced to reveal all your secrets!" Starling declared loudly as she strode confidently forward, holding her nunchuku against the spy's throat. In response to her announcement, the Talons simply stared at her in confusion, clearly they had no idea that a spymaster even existed. Not a good sign and it did not bode well for her bargaining position.

"You will pay dearly for revealing my existence." The man growled at her, threat plain in his voice despite his current situation. Starling simply shrugged, not really caring what the man liked or disliked, he had caused them more than enough woe on their side. Suddenly however, the spymaster slipped free of his bonds and kicked Starling down the hallway. "I had originally intended to wait until we were onboard the Condor, but I tired of you trying to use me as a bargaining chip. Honestly, that was the best method you had for getting through the battle zone? Surely you must have realized that the normal Talons would have no idea that I even exist… my Talons are the only ones not prone to talking too much about secret information." At his confident statement, Starling had to work hard to not smile; after all, she knew exactly where to find information on the man. Even if she would have to wait.

"I must admit, though, you did surprise me when you managed to capture me." The spymaster continued as he pulled out his dagger. "It is a mistake I do not intend to repeat and so I shall send all of you to oblivion." As he finished speaking, an energy aura similar to that surrounding a Sky Knight just prior to a Sky Knight Move surrounded Marrshal, slowly flowing down onto his dagger. A minute later, he stabbed his blade forward into the fabric of reality itself. Starling looked on in amazement; she had never seen an attack like this before. That amazement quickly evaporated though as the point where the spymaster had stabbed seemed to collapse in on itself, forming a sphere of the most perfect darkness she had ever seen. An instant later and a howling wind began to buffet her, trying to pull her toward the ominous black sphere. That same wind suddenly yanked her energy grenades off her belt, pulling them into the sphere where they were instantly crushed into nothingness.

"What is this?" Starling yelled as she grabbed onto one of the arches supporting the hallway, amazed that the spymaster could simply stand near the destructive ball, the flapping of his heavy robes the only indication that he was affected by the wind.

"During my extensive studies, I came across a Sky Knight training manual that explained how a Sky Knight move is developed. Using the methods described as a basis, I developed my own move. Do you like the result?"

"Not particularly." Starling grated as she struggled to hang on against the inexorable pull of the wind and other forces that seemed determined to suck her into the inky nothingness. From behind her, she could hear the frightened cries of Talons and the startled yells of Sky Knights caught by surprise, hesitant to consider the possibility of what might be happening to them and not daring to look to confirm her fears. Why was the spymaster unaffected by this maelstrom?

"Ah, you must be curious as to how I can simply stand here so close to the black hole without being affected by the pull. It is quite simple really; special crystals keep me bound to the floor here."

"I've never heard of such crystals… Master Cyclonis must have made them for you." Starling said quietly, thankfully for anything that distracted her from the cries of the others caught in the storm.

"Actually, she did not." The spymaster said simply as the winds began to die down, the forces pulling on Starling's body lessening in conjunction. With the worse danger obviously over, Starling released her hold on the archway and turned to face down the hall. To her surprise, it seemed that all of the Sky Knights had survived the assault, although the Talons were nowhere to be seen.

"It seems you miscalculated, the only ones you sucked in were your own troops, and even I managed to ride out your little attack." Starling said, dropping into an attack-oriented battle stance. Her comment seemed to annoy the Cyclonian as the frown on his face conveyed.

"So it would seem… Cowardly Talons, running away rather than simply grabbing on to a secure handhold. Well, with the odds so stacked against me, it would be foolish to stay. I will take my leave of you now, but fear not, I shall return shortly." The spymaster said in an irritated tone before vanishing in a flash. Starling slowly put her nunchuku away, hesitant to believe their luck could be this good. But the spymaster did not reappear and they had only so much time before the Talons returned. Realizing that they could not afford to stay here, Starling shouted at the other Sky Knights to keep moving, only after they began to move down the hall did she continue onward. After only a short distance however, she heard a mass of running feet behind her. Risking a glance over her shoulder, she saw to her relief that it was simply the Ancients, likely falling back after having delayed Master Cyclonis. Of course, if they were retreating then it really was time to fall back. As she continued to run, Vespos caught up with her, clearly using some form of crystal to enhance his running speed.

"I fear that we have enraged Cyclonis, though I have delayed her long enough for us to make our escape if we do so quickly; if she catches us, we will most certainly wish for death." Vespos said grimly as he grabbed Starling so she could keep up with him and the other Ancients, who all must have been enhancing their speed somehow. Thankfully, within minutes they had arrived back at their original infiltration point and were able to transport to the relative safety of the rebel fleet. It may not seem like much in the face of the overwhelming numbers arrayed against them, but it felt good to have nearly all the Sky Knights back, only two remained to be saved…

Her eyes glowing with rage, Master Cyclonis crushed the teleportation crystal that the Sky Knights had used to infiltrate her terra. That they had managed to find a way in was unacceptable, that they had managed to rescue her gallery was unforgivable… Cyclonia was supposed to be impervious to any assault; she had invested much in making sure of that.

"Piper…" she said quietly.

"Yes my friend?"

"Take as many teleportation crystals as you need, find a way to prevent them from being used within Cyclonia."

"But what about Marrshal's? And wouldn't you be better at that sort of thing?"

"True, but I have much to do and can not afford to be distracted. As for Marrshal, he will receive a new crystal that will allow him to continue teleporting around Cyclonia once you have finished."

"I'll get to work on it right away!"

"Good, now please send in the commanders." Master Cyclonis said as Piper bowed and left, the commanders filing in a few seconds later. "Not that you're all here, I have only one question: what happened?"

"The Dark Ace and I were trying to find their infiltration point so we could trap them all here, but they must have cloaked it somehow, Piper's crystal radar didn't pick up anything." Night Aerrow said right away.

"Ah, well, I commend you for thinking ahead… I guess I cannot fault either of you for that. Keep in mind, I'm not happy that you did not fight the Sky Knights, but at least you had a good, acceptable reason." Master Cyclonis replied, glad they had been working to prevent the Sky Knights from escaping. "What about the rest of you?"

"Snipe and I were quite busy fighting the Sky Knights until that idiot Marrshal opened a gate to oblivion right in the middle of the battlefield." Ravess suddenly said before Marrshal could say anything.

"Well, it is not like I saw any of you come back to fight afterwards." Marrshal shot back in a scathing tone. "It might have been a mistake to use my move in battle, but I did not have time to fight Starling before the Ancients showed up and diced you and your Talons to pieces. At least if the Talons had stayed around instead of running as soon as I began my attack they might have been able to dispose of a few Sky Knights by preventing them from grabbing onto handholds. But no, instead they ran and never came back, giving the Sky Knights the opportunity to escape. Now why did they not come back I might ask?"

"That is a good point…" Master Cyclonis said thoughtfully, "Why did you not return to the battle site to make sure all the Sky Knights had been disposed of?"

"Well, Ravess said that the Sky Knights would surely have been annihilated by that attack and that there was no reason to risk ourselves." Snipe said bluntly as Ravess tried to shut him up and explain the situation herself.

"Interesting… So you were certain that the spymaster, who has admittedly less combat ability than you and has to win through trickery, would be able to completely annihilate hundreds of Sky Knights with a single attack? Did it ever occur to you that Sky Knights have common sense and would simply grab on to something sturdy and wait out the assault?"

"Well, you do have a lot of confidence in him…"

"Enough… Marrshal, it was unwise of you to use your move in that situation, even given the time constraints. However, I recognize an untenable position when I see one, there's no way the Talons would have beaten all the Sky Knights before the Ancients arrived to back them up. If Night Aerrow and the Dark Ace had been there, things would have been different, but they were doing something equally valuable. At least you tried to do something to chance the outcome. Ravess, you and Snipe simply compounded the problem and ensured that the Sky Knights would escape all the sooner. Still, your overconfidence is annoying and you shall be punished for it. Ravess, I'm sending you to the Murk Raider front and I expect you will be able to subjugate them soon. Snipe, you will go to the frontier of the Great Expanse and patrol the area there, make sure nothing leaves that desolate zone. Understood?"

"Yes Master Cyclonis."

"Good, now leave, the trio and I have vengeance to plan." Master Cyclonis said, referring to Night Aerrow, the Dark Ace and Marrshal.

Some time after the trio of trusted commanders and Master Cyclonis had finished their planning, Master Cyclonis glided down one of the staircases leading to Marrshal's lair. She had never been down here before; there had never really been a need to talk to the spymaster here before, but she needed to see how this man lived so she could better see through his manipulations. She almost had not caught how he shifted attention and blame from himself in their earlier conversation and that was distressing. Well, that would be remedied here soon enough she concluded as she arrived in Marrshal's office. In response to her arrival, the spymaster looked up from his work of constructing more little espionage machines.

"Greetings my lady, what may I do for you this evening?" Marrshal said politely as he put his work away and sat back in his chair.

"We need to talk…" Master Cyclonis responded simply as she glided across the room, examining the interesting golden compass-like floor design that had the four cardinal directions marked by long triangles that extended from a crimson jewel in the center to pierce the outer ring. The four secondary directions were also marked by smaller spikes that extended from the outer ring. It was an interesting floor design, she would have expected the crest of Cyclonia… but Marrshal preferred to let his actions speak of his true loyalties rather than mere symbols. Master Cyclonis respected him for that philosophy.

"Of course, I am more than happy to talk to you about anything, even if it does relate to my means of deflecting blame for the escape of the Sky Knights." Marrshal said calmly as he stood to bow.

"You know, it's very annoying when you do that."

"Sorry, however, if I were not so perceptive I would not be able to deliver the quality of spying you have come to expect of me."

"Fair enough… Now then, you quite neatly deflected blame onto Ravess and Snipe for your mistake of using your Knight move. While I have no doubt that their decision to stay away was unwise, you should have known better, not to mention you strung me along to punish Ravess and Snipe for the entire affair. I have banished people to oblivion for less, so I want an explanation now or you will join them."

"Very well, I must admit that I was slightly enraged at Starling for capturing me and attempting to use me as a bargaining chip to retrieve Night Aerrow and Piper. It was very annoying, particularly since I am the one who usually does the blackmailing and kidnapping. As for Ravess and Snipe, you know how much I dislike Snipe. I just could not resist the opportunity to have him banished from Cyclonia; Ravess was just a means to an end with that goal in mind."

"Personal vendettas? I would have thought you above those. Luckily for you, I don't mind having Ravess and Snipe gone, although you realize you are setting yourself up for a confrontation between you, Ravess and Snipe, correct? If that happens, I will not intervene and it is for that fact alone that I will not banish you. As for the use of your move, I suppose I can understand why you used it under those circumstances. Given your explanations, I think we are done here, consider there to be no trust lost between us, although I expect you will not use me to satisfy your personal desires in the future, understood?"

"My apologies my lady, it is just that sometimes I become so wrapped up in my manipulations I forget when to stop. I will see that it does not happen again."

"See that it does not."


	38. Chapter 38

**Darkening Skies: Unity of the Master**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 4**

In the three weeks since they had rescued the other Sky Knights, the rebels had been attacked nearly every other day by Cyclonians as Master Cyclonis doggedly pursued her goal of retrieving her 'museum' of Sky Knights. In each encounter both Night Aerrow and the Dark Ace had shown up, requiring the Ancients to engage them so that the other Sky Knights could fend off the Talons. Luckily, they had been able to prevent any of their allies from being captured as Starling had no desire to go back into Cyclonia for another rescue mission. Unfortunately, the constant attacks had left them short on supplies and unable to run a single mission without the risk of it being interrupted. The worst attack had been near the Black Gorge, as Master Cyclonis had used her terra building crystal to pin the rebels between the Black Gorge and a massive Cyclonian fleet. It had only been thanks to the crystals of the Ancients that they had managed to escape since they were somehow immune to the effects of the Gorge, similar to how a solaris crystal was. Despite their victories though, the constant battles had left Starling ragged around the edges and she was beginning to feel the strain. They desperately needed some place where they could be safe from the Cyclonian fleet, but no such place seemed to exist in all the Atmos.

"You seem to be stressed out Starling." Vespos said suddenly, startling Piper out of her reverie.

"Oh, Vespos, I'm just trying to get a moment of peace in between attacks. If we could only find a safe and secretive harbor where the Cyclonians could not attack us, we could advance our plan to rescue Piper."

"Ah yes, that memo sent to Cyclonia from the Tundras Crystal Research Facility requesting additional firebolt crystals. You are certain then that Piper is there?"

"Yes, she loves crystals, I can think of no other place she would be."

"Well, if you truly need a safe harbor, we could offer our terra as a base for the resistance to operate out of, everyone except the Rex Guardians that is. Normally we would not do this sort of thing and even now I am hesitant, our terra contains many dangerous things that no one but us can handle."

"But a safe harbor is so vital, you had to know this."

"Our terra is safe from Cyclonis, but there are far worse things that lurk in the shadows of our home. Truly, unless you are desperate, do not take me up on this offer; find some other haven to reside in."

"Well, it's the first option we've got and speed is of the essence."

"Very well." Vespos said in a muted tone, as if regretting even making the offer in the first place.

A few hours later, the rebel fleet was stationed at the edge of a vast plane of storm clouds that stretched to the horizon. A few minutes ago, the Ancients had left the fleet and dove beneath the cloud layer, claiming they would return in a little while and this gave Starling a chance to observe the surrounding skies, such as they were. Judging from the massive tornadoes that twisted through the skies between cloud layers illuminated by constant lightning strikes, she could tell why this area of Atmos had been named The Rift when it was discovered a few decades back. The entire area was essentially a single massive storm composed of about three layers, each one compounding the ferocity of the storms below it. Considering that the uppermost storm layer was a blizzard-cane that often tore down through the other storm layers, that was saying a lot about the lowest storm. No serious exploration had ever been conducted, it was simply too hazardous to spend prolonged periods of time inside the turbulent area, particularly due to the magnetic and energy storm that disrupted compass readings and prevented one from picking up the Timepulse. How the Ancients managed to survive in there was a mystery to Starling, although she would likely find out soon enough. As she finished that thought, the Ancients suddenly burst out of the clouds and made for the rebel fleet.

"We have secured a safe path for your fleet, but be warned that you must follow our course precisely or you will perish. Our home in the eye of this storm is the only safe haven for you here." Vespos said as he dove back beneath the clouds, followed by the rebel fleet. There, near ground level in the Wasteland sat a pair of massive crystal obelisks. A bright curtain of energy cascaded down between the obelisks, clearly a portal of some kind, a conclusion further supported when Vespos vanished as he flew between them. The Rex Guardians went next, although to Piper's surprise, nothing happened when their squadron flew through the obelisks, they simply passed between the obelisks without teleporting. Wondering if any of them could use the portal, she instructed Stork to take them through next and was surprised when, as they passed through the energy veil, the landscape melted into a new vista featuring a low terra with a large crater as its surface topography. Evidently when they forbid someone entry through that gate, the gate really did not work for them, hence why the Rex Guardians could not use the portal. This was confirmed over the next few minutes as every carrier except the one used by the Rex Guardians appeared in the skies behind the Condor.

"Welcome to Terra Anki, our home terra. During your stay, feel free to explore the surface… Do not go into any of the caves." Vespos said as a greeting.

"Vespos, as much as we appreciate this, why can't you let the Rex Guardians in here? Why do you dislike them so much?"

"The Rex Guardians will never set foot on this terra again as long as I live. That is all there is to it, if they want, they can set down on the platform surrounding the Obelisk Gate. They should be safe there." Vespos said casually although there was a mixture of deep hurt and hatred tinting his voice ever so slightly. Now that Starling had gotten to know the Ancient leader, she was able to pick it out where before she had missed it due to his skill at hiding it. Knowing that he would not change his mind, she sent Finn back through the portal to inform the Rex Guardians of this development with great hesitation. This refusal of the Ancients to work with the Rex Guardians was creating a serious rift between the Ancients and the squadrons that allied with the Rex Guardians. So far, the common goal of defeating Cyclonia and the squadrons that could see the big picture had kept the fleet together, but this incident would definitely put a lot of additional strain on their alliance. She shook her head slowly, this was really the last thing they needed… perhaps some time spent relaxing would help her find a solution to the issue. Not to mention it would give her an excuse to explore the mysterious new terra that lay in front of them.

Starling wandered through the ruined streets of Terra Anki, amazed at the destruction the landmass seemed to have suffered. Still, despite the destruction, this place was a treasure trove of information about the past; she was currently examining a mural that depicted the construction of the Forbidden City. It was curious though that there were no murals depicting the lineages of Sky Knights that surely must have formed the basis for the Ancients. Perhaps they were in another section of the ruined city or perhaps they had been destroyed by whatever cataclysm had claimed this terra. Regardless, the city definitely carried with it the weight and secrets of history and that gave her a possible idea as to how to handle the situation developing between the Ancients and Rex Guardians…

"…So you can see what is at stake here Vespos. As long as you are unwilling to help everyone right now, this crisis will only deepen." Starling finished, hoping that she had managed to formulate an effective argument over the past hour or so she had been speaking.

"Very well Starling, we will pretend there is no friction between the Rex Guardians and ourselves, for the sake of Atmosia." Vespos said at long last. "But I will not, can not allow them on this terra, the portal will block them every time. It is how it was constructed and we have no time to rebuild them."

"Oh… why did you build them to bar people from Terra Rex?" Starling asked, but Vespos simply maintained his silence.

"We will work with the Rex Guardians as per our agreement. I am sorry, but there is nothing further I can do, please leave the past in the past." Vespos said stoically. With nothing further to be said between them, Starling nodded in gratitude for the concessions Vespos had made and left. This incident only continued to deepen the mystery of why the Ancients disliked the Rex Guardians so much, both groups were Sky Knights and obviously had long legacies of honor. In theory, they should get along well enough. True, the Rex Guardians were rather stuffy, but that really was not the worst problem they could have. In the end though, at least this arrangement would decrease tension between the two groups and allow them to focus on what was really important. The rescue of Piper was necessary before they could save Aerrow, her expertise in crystals would be necessary to save him, particularly if she was studying the crystals Master Cyclonis was using.


	39. Chapter 39

**Darkening Skies: Unity of the Master**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 5**

Starling sighed in frustration as she looked at the rough map that she had drawn of the research facility where Piper worked. Although they had found the locations and had an infiltration plan, it was all useless if they could not figure out a way to free Piper from the effects of whatever crystal Cyclonis was using. To do that, they needed more information and unfortunately information was sorely lacking these days, particularly with the increasing fanaticism of the terras in their loyalty to Master Cyclonis. Doubtless there would be information in Cyclonia or the research facility, but raiding either of those locations might tip Master Cyclonis off that the resistance was moving to free Piper and Aerrow. They needed some other method of gaining information that carried less risk. Consulting with Vespos or Stork might help… Stork's paranoia had proved useful over the past year, particularly since he had been able to see traps that even she had missed. Not to mention that he had more common sense than Finn or Junko, even though both had become much more serious over the past year. With her mind made up, she headed to the bridge of the Condor to talk with Stork.

As she walked onto the bridge, she was surprised to see Stork drinking what appeared to be a cup of tea, during her entire tenure on the Condor she had never seen him so relatively relaxed. Upon seeing her enter, Stork set the cup down on the bridge table and went back to monitoring the skies around Terra Anki, despite the assurances of safety the Ancients had given them. Some things never changed though and Stork's paranoia was one of those things.

"Starling, what brings you here?"

"Just some to ask if you might have any ideas where we might find information on the crystals Master Cyclonis is using aside from Cyclonia or the research facility that Piper works in. We need to know more about them so we can free Piper and Aerrow from the effects of said crystals."

"I see, well, we figured out that her crystals require you to be asleep from the first time we encountered them. That Piper and Aerrow are continuously working for Cyclonis means that she either refined the crystals, in which case we're doomed… or she found a way to permanently keep them asleep. Either way, we're pretty well doomed and it's only a matter of time until we're all captured."

"Stork, I think the lack of sleep is getting to you…"

"Wait! That's it!" Stork said in a surprisingly optimistic tone as he held up the cup he was drinking from earlier. "I made this concoction to keep me awake without any ill side effects so then I could see my doom coming! We could adapt this and concentrate it… That might make it potent enough to wake Aerrow and Piper up! The only problem then would be delivery… Oh woe, why must my hopes be raised only to be dashed by hard reality?"

"Stork, focus! It's a good idea, you just need to concentrate your drink, I'll work on the rest and we just need to cross our fingers and hope it works."

After nearly four days of continuous work, Stork had managed to concentrate his drink to the point where it could wake up anyone, no matter how deep their sleep. Tests on Finn and the Sky Knights of Terra Duermes had confirmed that the drink could wake up the practically comatose. The Duermes Sky Knights had not been pleased at that, but they were the deepest sleepers around thanks to the nature of their terra, so a test on them had been necessary. The next step of the plan then was to infiltrate the research facility and rescue Piper while gaining more information on the crystals Cyclonis was using. After all, the concoction they had made was really not a good long-term solution, even under the most dire of circumstances. Starling had little doubt that Piper would not enjoy being forced to stay awake all day and night or risk turning evil. These were all future considerations however; first they had to get inside the facility.

As Starling and the other Storm Hawks cruised through the darkening skies near Terra Tundras, she took a moment to review their plan in her mind and make sure that nothing had been overlooked. For the past week, she had worked closely with the other Sky Knight squadron leaders to perfect the rescue plan. Although some had been skeptical, they agreed that this had the potential to allow a better understanding of what they were facing with regards to the crystals Cyclonia was using. It was a common goal that seemed more immediate than the restoration of Atmosia and thus was more motivating. As a result the others had been very helpful, even Harrier seemed to be working well with the Ancients, a small miracle given the animosity between the two groups. The result had been a plan that should work: While the other Sky Knights attacked nearby Tundras, the remaining Storm Hawks would infiltrate the research facility and rescue Piper as well as procure any available information on the crystals Cyclonis was using. Realizing the Storm Hawk's absence in the battle at Tundras would be noticed, Starling had proposed using Chroma Crystals to disguise several of the other Sky Knights as the Storm Hawks. Several of the lesser known squadrons volunteered and the Ancients had carefully crafted the disguises those Knights would wear, how they engineered Chroma Crystals to do that was something Starling really wanted to know, but the Ancients had said it was a lost art, whatever that meant… Regardless, the disguises were nearly perfect, even the spymaster would probably not notice the deception. Finally, all of the work and frustration was about to pay off and Piper would be back on their side before the day was out.

Within ten minutes, the Storm Hawks had successfully infiltrated the facility, taking care to disguise the hole they had cut into the rock to provide an egress into the compound. To Starling's surprise, the halls of the laboratory were clean, spacious and well lit, unlike what was typical for Cyclonian interior design, which tended to be dark and industrialized in style. As they had hoped for, the halls were devoid of guards, most of them having retreated to the vital sections of the base in response to the attack on Tundras. This gave the Storm Hawks free reign of most of the facility, which is exactly what they wanted Starling thought as Junko wrested the grating of an air duct free. As the other Storm Hawks stood guard in cover positions, both she and Stork crawled into the ductwork to perform a more detailed reconnaissance of the facility. After several minutes of crawling around in the confined spaces, Starling made her way back to their entry point. A few seconds later Stork followed behind her, visibly putting effort into putting up a good front. After all, this mission required the utmost discretion and his commentary might alert the guards to their presence, provided they were not already aware.

"Okay everyone, the guards have positioned themselves to protect every standard entrance into the lab were Piper is working." Starling whispered as the others leaned in to listen as well as confine the range her voice carried. "This means that if we can seal off her lab somehow, she will not be able to call for backup and our victory is guaranteed."

"Not necessarily," Stork interjected in a quiet whisper. "Piper is certain to be carrying one of those teleportation crystals that seem to be so popular with Cyclonian citizens these days… Have you seen the price of those things? Very affordable really, I bet they would really come in hand…"

"Stork, focus!" Starling hissed, wanting to continue with the mission as soon as possible. "That is the reason we brought a leecher crystal, since we can use it to drain the energy from the stone before she has a chance to use it. Now, everyone but Junko, we're going to infiltrate Piper's lab and rescue her. Junko, you and Radarr plant these explosive crystals discretely to ensure that our escape is covered, I want those Talons to think a major attack is underway here."

"I won't fail!" Junko said loudly without thinking, only to quickly clamp his hands over his mouth in embarrassment an instant later. Luckily, it seemed no Talons had heard them and the group quickly broke up and each headed toward their respective goals.

Starling peered into the open lab space on the other side of the grill, looking for Piper was in the room. It was important to get within quick striking range of Piper so that she could disarm her and remove the threat of the teleportation stone immediately, otherwise this all would be for naught. After several tense seconds of searching the lab, Starling spotted their target working with some incredibly complex looking crystalline lattice. She quickly estimated the distance between her current position and where Piper was, taking note of anything that might constitute an obstacle. After due consideration, she decided that she would be able to cover the distance in time to prevent any resistance from Piper, meaning it was up to Stork and Finn to make sure that the Talons were sealed off from the lab, they had made that mistake enough while trying to rescue Aerrow. It was true that the Talons were no match for a Sky Knight, but they could serve as enough of a distraction to prevent anything useful from being accomplished. For a successful rescue, they could not risk interference from those accursed Cyclonians.

"Now!" she whispered as she kicked the grate out and dropped to the floor, leaping toward Piper as she drew her nunchuku and the leecher crystal she had brought. Piper reacted quickly despite her surprise and pulled out a teleportation crystal, but its power was quickly drained by the leecher, rendering it useless. Starling went for Piper's staff next, smacking the weapon out of Piper's hands and sending it spinning across the floor out of easy grabbing range. Meanwhile, Finn reached the emergency lockdown switch and slammed it hard, dropping massive blast doors down over the entrances to the chamber and sealing the Talons out before they could react. Piper recognized the trap and dropped into an aggressive Sky Fu fighting stance, daring the Storm Hawks to approach her.

"Interesting tactic Starling, trying to rescue me first rather than Night Aerrow? You need my expertise in crystals don't you? After all, I've been working on this problem longer than you have; an unfortunate side effect of being chased from one end of the Atmos to the other by Cyclonians." Piper said in a genuinely pleasant tone which stood at odds with her aggressive stance.

"Just come quietly Piper, I don't want to hurt you."

"I could say the same to you, Master Cyclonis should be on her way here any moment now; my Link Crystal has ensured that."

"Link Crystal?" Starling asked in confusion just before Piper attacked with a vicious series of strikes toward the chest and throat. Starling quickly dodged out of the way however and countered by wrapping the chain of her nunchuku around Piper's wrists and slamming them onto the floor, taking Piper off her feet and rendering her helpless for the moment.

"Stork! Now!" Starling yelled, not wanting to release the pressure in order to grab the serum she carried off her belt. Responding quickly, Stork ran over and pulled out the vial of serum he carried.

"Whatever you're planning it won't… Gulk!" Piper started to counter before Stork poured the drink serum down her throat. In response, Piper struggled all the more, but with three Sky Knights on her she stood no chance of escaping. After nearly twenty minutes of semi-continuous struggling however, Piper slowly settled down as her eyes seemed to glaze over. After what seemed like an eternity however, awareness returned to her eyes and Piper looked around at the Storm Hawks.

"Starling? Where am I, this isn't Terra Bast is it?"


	40. Chapter 40

**Darkening Skies: Unity of the Master**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 6**

"Piper, is it really you?" Starling asked hopefully.

"Yes… Where are we though? The last thing I remember is Aerrow standing over me on Terra Bast and now I'm here, feeling incredibly rested. By the way, did we win?" Piper asked amicably as Starling released her however, a grimace crossed Piper's face and she turned to face the other Storm Hawks. "I was converted again?" she asked in an irritated tone, exasperated that she would fall victim to the same manipulations as before. A moment later, Piper's face settled into a weary set as some realization dawned on her, "We didn't win on Bast did we?"

"Sorry, no. We lost badly and only a few of us were able to escape. A lot has happened over the past year or so though, the Ancients returned and we were able to rescue most of the captured Sky Knights, only one remains to be rescued." Starling said evenly, still slightly skeptical about Piper's loyalties. "We need your help to find a way to negate the effects of the crystals Cyclonis is using. Since you have spent the past year studying those crystals and developing new crystal-based weaponry for the Cyclonians, we figure that you are the one most likely to find a method to accomplish this."

"Alright, we need to find any notes I've made over the course of my studies then." Piper said eagerly, happy to be working for the side of good once more. As she scanned the neatly organized stacks of notebooks however, a sense of disparity overwhelmed her. These stacks were organized exactly as she would normally organize such things, but she had no idea as to the contents of each stack; and she dreaded the thought of actually looking through the notes themselves, seeing the evidence of whatever diabolical devices she had developed for Cyclonia.

"Piper? Are you alright?" Starling suddenly asked from behind her and Piper came to the realization that she was crying, the dread of looking at the evidence of her dark side having blossomed into horror and despair.

"I… I don't want to see this…" Piper whispered as she desperately tried to fight down her own fears and sense of horror at what she had done. "What have I done?"

"Piper! It wasn't you, it was Master Cyclonis and if we don't find your notes and get out of here, we will all be converted to Cyclonian supporters or frozen for eternity." Starling said, grabbing a hold of the younger woman as she spoke with determination.

"Right, right…" Piper responded, her determination to not suffer the same fate again providing the necessary focus for her to dispel her anguish. Without further hesitation, she opened the first book, finding it to be filled with designs for more efficient energy cannons intended for deployment on Cyclonian destroyers. Quickly moving to another pile, she found the information they needed as this stack contained notes on the properties of the various crystals the Cyclonians used. Glad that she would not have to see any further potential atrocities, Piper gathered up the notebooks in that stack and turned back to Starling. "These are it, now let's get out of here and destroy the rest of this."

"Don't worry, Junko is planting explosive crystals as we speak, this entire facility will be nothing but dust and rubble as soon as we leave."

"Good, then let's get out of here."

Vespos leaped from Switchblade to Switchblade, either frightening or knocking the Talons off their rides and sending them plummeting to the Wastelands below before the men deployed their parachutes. The battle over Tundras was going remarkably well, despite the overwhelming numbers of Talons present at the battle site. This was likely because none of the truly ominous Cyclonian commanders were here, leaving only the relatively under-skilled Talons to defend the crystal mines here. Despite this, Vespos was still worried; what if Cyclonis had figured out their true objective and even now was confronting the Storm Hawks? If that were the case, he would never get there in time to save them and this all was for nothing.

"So, I guess it is my turn to fight one of the infamous Ancients, I cannot say I am very pleased with this situation." A voice said from behind him as Vespos whirled to face this new threat. He already knew who it was as there was only one Cyclonian he knew of who could sneak up that discretely.

"So, the spymaster, the puppet-master comes to fight me. How peculiar, I would have expected you to hide in the background and let others fight." Vespos said evenly as he leveled his sword at his new opponent.

"I was bored." Marrshal answered in a bland tone, inwardly livid at this punishment that Master Cyclonis had inflicted upon him for his manipulations relating to the escape of the Sky Knights. To say nothing of his failure to tell her about this attack in time. Such lack of understanding for the intricacies of covert work was irritating, particularly given the fact that for the past two weeks the rebel fleet had completely disappeared. Of course, he had at least some idea of the implications of such an amazing feat and the answer was right in front of him…

"So tell me Ancient, are you harboring the rebels on your home terra? That is fairly generous of you, considering that your penchant for keeping secrets rivals my own. You cannot be too pleased at having so many Sky Knights wandering around your home."

"Silence spy, you know nothing of honor and so you cannot understand our actions. Now fight or flee, do not simply stand there and talk."

"Sorry, but talking is a skill that is rather important to develop, more so than fighting." Marrshal smirked as he covertly drew his blade from its sleeve scabbard, "Besides, we will have plenty of time to talk soon, what with my lady and her two favorite commanders heading off to take care of your little rescue operation. And without the Storm Hawks to act as mediators, you and the Rex Guardians are certain to get along better than ever." In response to his comment, Vespos attacked with feral brutality, giving Marrshal almost no time to react between strikes. Inwardly, though, Marrshal smiled to himself, happy that he had confirmed his hypothesis that there was a great amount of tension between the Ancients and the Rex Guardians. Now he only needed to find out what the exact source of that tension was and he could fully exploit it for his master.

Master Cyclonis silently glided through the research facility that Piper had once been in charge of, her suppressed rage enough to cause the crystal lights to flicker, nearing overload due to the crystal energies that seethed about her like a storm of black energy. To either side of her the Dark Ace and Night Aerrow walked along, their weapons held at the ready for when they encountered the Storm Hawks. Master Cyclonis already knew that they had rescued Piper; she had felt their link through the Link Crystals break, meaning that Piper had somehow been freed of the influence of her psionic and mesmeric crystals.

"Night Aerrow, Dark Ace, branch off down these hallways, they also lead to my friend's lab and I do not want these pests to escape this time." She said quietly, she was not irritated at her favorite commanders after all, nor was she really angry with Marrshal, his explanation of why the rebels were so hard to track had made sense. She was annoyed at the fact that the Storm Hawks were still around however; some people should just recognize when they were beaten. The rescue of the other Sky Knights simply prolonged the time until the inevitable victory of Cyclonia.

"Yes Master Cyclonis." Both of her commanders said as they headed down the two adjoining hallways. As the two vanished around corners in their respective halls, Master Cyclonis began to glide forward, only to be thrown off her feet a second later as explosions tore through the base, shaking chucks of the rocky ceiling free and sending them crashing to the floor in large debris piles. Around her the entire support structure of the hall groaned and creaked, the added strain of the shockwaves having damaged the struts that were crucial to holding up the ceiling. As if to confirm the extent of the damage, the entire hall before her gave way, cutting off her access to Piper's laboratory. Or it normally would have except she had grown in power since the loss of her collection, almost as if her rage drove her abilities to new levels of strength. Focusing her mind on her hands, she created two orbs of brilliant orange red energy and fired them into the wall of rubble ahead, blasting a massive amount of the debris into stone dust and leaving her a clear path to continue onward. As she continued onward down the hall, Master Cyclonis smiled to herself, nothing could stop her from achieving her aims here…

Piper crawled through the air ducts that connected to what had been her lab in a different life, the other Storm Hawks following her and alert for any treachery on her part. Not that she could blame them, not with all the manipulations that the spymaster had woven around them. Blast him and his proficiency! She had never really believed that he wanted the war to continue in order to preserve his power, but she had not believed that his manipulations would be so trivial in their scope. In addition, she could not shake the feeling that she knew the man's name… but for the life of her she could not remember what that name was. No matter, it was of little importance if she could not find a way to turn this war to favor the Sky Knights once more.

"Okay, now turn left and we should be right where we need to be." Starling said from behind her and Piper followed the directions precisely, exiting the ducts and standing up to face Junko and Radarr waiting in the hallway.

"Guys!" Piper exclaimed happily as the other Storm Hawks also exited the vent and assembled around Piper, "It is so good to see you again, given what has happened and that I don't remember anything since Terra Bast."

"I'm glad to see you too Piper." Junko said in a startlingly serious tone, "But we need to get out of here before Master Cyclonis and her forces arrive."

"Too late for that…" Piper said as the Dark Ace appeared at the end of the hall. Her comment immediately drew suspicious glances from the other Storm Hawks but then they too noticed the presence of the Cyclonian commander. The entire group immediately prepared themselves for combat, but the Dark Ace simply smiled and spun his ignited blade around one hand.

"You know, you're all doomed." He said with a confident smirk on his face, "All we needed was have one of us find you. Master Cyclonis already knows you are here and now…" His last comment trailed off as two twisters of onyx energy appeared beside him, dissipating to reveal Master Cyclonis and Night Aerrow.

"So Starling, leader of the rebels, we have you cornered at last." Master Cyclonis said ominously as an aura of crimson energy surrounded her as she floated toward the assembled group. "I will forgive you Piper, but the rest of you shall become as ash. No entry for the Storm Hawks will ever be seen in my gallery…"

Marrshal leapt back out of the way of a quick horizontal slash from Vespos, somersaulting just before landing on a nearby skimmer. In response, the Ancient leader grunted in irritation, the weasel had an expert knack for avoiding damaging blows, often giving up offensive advantages to ensure that he could dodge the next strike. The man clearly was not a skilled combatant, but this ultra-defensive style of fighting was unusual enough where Vespos found himself having a difficult time winning. For his part, the spy seemed to be enjoying the contest, content to draw it out as long as possible. However, Vespos was not without a strategy for victory and the spy was just about in the right position…

"Considering the earlier proficiency you showed when fighting the other commanders, it is surprising that you have not yet landed a blow." His opponent taunted as he leapt away from the energy bolt Vespos threw at him.

"Never underestimate an Ancient…" Vespos whispered as the spy landed exactly where he wanted him, there were no longer any other skimmers for the man to jump to, and he could not dodge this next attack. "Lance of Vespos!" he called out as a swirling vortex of energy formed around his sword, weaving into an ovaloid orb of energy that encompassed the blade. He quickly pointed his sword at the spy, firing a massive beam of energy at the man. Marrshal saw immediately that he could not dodge, the beam was wide enough to easily encompass an entire skimmer… he had only one chance of surviving such an attack, particularly since Vespos had managed to knock away his teleportation crystal earlier in the fight.

Vespos grinned in triumph as his Sky Knight Move incinerated the entire skimmer that had been in its path, taking the spymaster to oblivion with it. Suddenly however, the spy leapt out of the inferno of energy, slamming straight into Vespos as he did so. Knocked off balance by the unexpected turn of events, Vespos fell off his skimmer. Although he quickly activated his wind crystal to halt his descent and fly back up to where the spy was waiting for him.

"You are not just the puppet-master…" Vespos said slowly as he landed in a fighting position, watching as the other man's tattered and burned flesh repaired itself, restoring areas of tissue that had been completely burned away. "You are the Abomination, the enemy who cannot die, no wonder the predictions make so little mention of you…."

"Do not be so dramatic, it is unbecoming of one of the legendary Ancients. It is interesting that some ancient prediction involves me though, do you suppose you could give me a copy?" Marrshal responded idly as he ducked under an attack from Vespos. "Suppose that is a no."

"The predictions say that you, the Abomination, are the one responsible for the corruption of Aerrow, you sow dissent and distrust among the protectors of Atmosia. You are the dark hand of Cyclonis and the corruptor of the Code of the Sky Knight. The texts always said you were linked with the puppet-master, although evidently it is a bit more than simply working together."

"Clearly… Such misleading statements are why I do not trust ancient prophecies. Still, those texts of yours are somewhat accurate, particularly with regards to past accomplishments." Marrshal said blandly, not wanting to let Vespos know how accurate those statements truly were. Those texts revealed far too much about his past and abilities, he would have to destroy everyone who knew about them if his ultimate plan was to come to fruition. For now however, he needed to focus on surviving this fight, despite what the predictions said, he could die and the extensive regeneration he had just run through had nearly drained his internal 'crystals' of their power. If he wanted to continue regenerating and shapeshifting, he would need to eat soon to recharge himself, otherwise he would not be able to repair the damage Vespos was inflicting on him and, more importantly, he would revert back to his true face. Revealing his identity to Vespos was not part of his plans currently.

"Neither do we trust such archaic knowledge, but information on you through other sources is rather lacking, likely by your design." Vespos said as he whirled around, sending streamers of crystal energy hurtling toward Marrshal, who neatly evaded them with a feline-like grace. His skill in sidestepping attacks was actually beginning to irritate Vespos, an amazing feat in and of itself. This was unacceptable; he had wanted to fight the spy in the hopes of uncovering some useful information, but all he had uncovered was that the puppet-master was also the Abomination, which really did not tell them anymore than they already suspected. In the meantime, the Storm Hawks were being entrapped by Master Cyclonis… that meant it was time to reveal a little surprise of his own.

"You know spy, I would really like to test your supposed immortality, but I have friends to save." Vespos said as he gestured to four of the other nearby Ancients. "It is time to end this fight."

"Rest assured, my skill in dodging is sufficient to evade attacks from you and your friends." Marrshal said confidently. It was relatively true, particularly now that he knew to avoid being forced onto a lone skimmer.

"We are not going to fight you." Vespos said, suddenly pulling out Marrshal's teleportation crystal and vanishing in a flash of brilliant light along with his reinforcements. As the light faded, Marrshal felt an incredibly uncharacteristic feeling well up inside him. The Ancient had pick pocketed him! Right as he watched too! He had been so concerned about avoiding the attacks of his opponent, he had not even checked to see where his teleportation crystal was when Vespos had knocked it out of his hand. Foolish, foolish preoccupation! He had made his living being aware of everything that was happening around him and he had completely missed such a glaringly obvious problem. The current state of things must be affecting his skills and this was unacceptable, he needed some time to himself, to re-focus himself and hone his skills once more. Before that however, he needed to warn Master Cyclonis that she had company incoming.

"Dark Ace, Night Aerrow, we need to finish this quickly, we have company inbound…" Master Cyclonis said darkly as she watched her two commanders battle the trapped Storm Hawks and attempted to incinerate Starling with a blast of blood-red light. She had just received her spymaster's message about the Ancients and it aggravated her that there was some chance of the Storm Hawks escaping with Piper. The Storm Hawks were skilled however, they had managed to avoid everything she had thrown at them and were focusing more on her commanders, knowing that she could throw whatever they threw at her back a hundred-fold. Not to mention she dared not use area effect attacks else she harm her favorite commanders. She should have thought this fight through; to call Night Aerrow and Dark Ace back now would only alert the Storm Hawks to a change in tactics on her part. Still, she needed to end this fight quickly she concluded, raising her hands to blast the entire hallway in energy. Before she could strike however, a robed figure dropped down between her and the Storm Hawks, holding out a leech crystal to draw in the energy she had gathered.

"You are too late Master Cyclonis, we are here now and you will not reclaim Piper while we draw breath." Vespos said defiantly as the other four Ancients leapt up behind her to cleave her from top to bottom with their swords.


	41. Chapter 41

**Darkening Skies: Unity of the Master**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 7**

As the Ancients swung their blades downward, Master Cyclonis melted into the floor, vanishing from view as she did so. A few seconds later, she rose back up out of the floor behind the Ancients and blasted them with a wave of crimson energy powerful enough to incinerate anything in its path. To her surprise however, the Ancients were effectively unharmed, their over-cloaks being the only thing damaged by the assault, the fact that the armor they wore was sturdy enough to deflect her assault was amazing. A quick look revealed to her that the armor was made of some smooth pale blue opaque crystal of a type she had never seen before, possibly a crystal type found only on their home terra. If that were the case, she needed to obtain some of this crystal for study. More immediate concerns took precedence though she chided herself as her shield deflected an energy bolt that one of the Sky Knights threw at her, startling her out of her train of thought. In retaliation, Master Cyclonis gathered two spheres of crystal energy in her hands and slammed them into the ground. An instant later, the ground underneath the Ancients exploded upward, sending three of the four Ancients caught in the blast zone flying. The fourth Ancient easily dodged around the earthen spikes and sliced them into pieces, then charged toward Master Cyclonis while his comrades recovered. As she blocked the incoming attack and blasted the Ancient backwards, Master Cyclonis scanned the hall for Vespos, wondering where he had gone to. She quickly spotted him, just in time to see him teleport the last Storm Hawk out of the facility while holding off Night Aerrow and Dark Ace.

"NO!" she shrieked in response, her voice reverberating forcefully off the walls of the corridor, shaking lose rocks and cracking the ceiling. Her best chance to retrieve Piper, ruined by these accursed Ancients! It was time to remove the threat they presented once and for all… "You'll pay for what you've done!" she continued, brilliant ruby energy pulsing in the palm of her hands.

"Not this day Master Cyclonis." Vespos said calmly as the other four Ancients assembled around him, the four locking blades with Night Aerrow and forcing him to remain near the group. Realizing their plan, Master Cyclonis yanked Night Aerrow backward telekinetically as the Ancients vanished in a flash, teleporting out of the base and to relative safety. As they vanished, she silently cursed her over-confidence and was thankful that she had managed to save Night Aerrow just in time. She had lost her best friend as a result of her arrogance; she would not lose her boyfriend. Still though, there was a chance to correct this grievous oversight.

"Contact our forces, deploy every available vessel to Tundras, cleanse the skies over that terra of every last Sky Knight and bring me Piper alive." Master Cyclonis said malevolently as her commanders returned to her side, "Dark Ace, go with our forces. Night Aerrow, I will not risk your capture, since that is clearly their primary goal now. You will return with me to Cyclonia."

"Yes Master Cyclonis." Both her commanders replied as the trio vanished in twisters of midnight dark energy.

Piper reappeared on the bridge of the Condor moments after Vespos had touched her with the teleportation stone, followed by the other Storm Hawks a minute later. To her surprise, the Ancients did not follow them and Stork immediately set a course away from Tundras.

"Stork, what are you doing? We need to go and help the other Sky Knights, Master Cyclonis is sure to throw everything she can at them." Piper said, pleading with the Merb to turn around.

"Sorry, can't do that Piper, we talked it over with the Ancients and it's simply too dangerous to risk the information we stole falling into Cyclonian hands again. Not to mention we finally saved you, we don't want to lose you again. Just wait, we'll be at the resistance base in a few hours and there we're relatively safe." Stork said in a friendly yet harried tone as he navigated his way through the clouds above the Wasteland.

Piper silently sat down at her desk in her room, trying not to feel shoved aside by the flurry of activity that the others were clearly used to working in. She, on the other hand, was not used to their rhythm of work and would only get in the way until she settled into the same rhythm. Until then, she felt like she was only good for the knowledge she could read out of her own notes. Anyone could do such a task though… she really did not want that to be her only useful contribution to the resistance.

'_They don't really trust you Piper, and why should they? After all, you betrayed them again. Best stick you in a position where you can do the least amount of harm._' A voice suddenly said.

"Who said that?" Piper asked, looking around for the source of the voice.

'_Why it's me, Piper, the real Piper._' The voice snickered again from inside her head, '_I'm the one those insipid Sky Knights nicknamed Dark Piper._'

"You can't be real; I'm not a puppet of Cyclonis anymore." Piper whispered quietly to herself as she clutched her ears, hoping against fact that it would shut out the voice. "You never really existed in the first place."

'_Foolish Piper, the psionic crystals made me real, they created my persona within you to usurp you and take over while you remained eternally locked in slumber._' Dark Piper scolded from inside her head. '_Just go to sleep once more and you won't have to face this nightmare… I can contact Master Cyclonis through the Link Crystal and you can rest in your dreams forever. Meanwhile I'll continue developing the weapons necessary to ensure Cyclonia's victory; it's a win-win situation for both of us. Should you refuse however, I will continue to nag you, I will not stop I will not rest and you cannot block me, I will drive you insane until Master Cyclonis is your only hope._'

"I will not give in to you." Piper replied with finality, "I am the real Piper."

"Who are you talking to?" a voice intruded into her thoughts as Piper turned to find Starling looking at her with a concerned expression on her face.

'_You are so busted, no way out… If you lie, they'll know it and always suspect you of treachery. Tell the truth and there's no way they can ever trust you again, what if I take over? They would not risk it._' Dark Piper snickered from the back of her mind, '_Give me control and I will take you back to the only person who can trust you now._'

"It's the Cyclonian me," Piper confessed to Starling without hesitation, ignoring the ranting of her dark side. "She's trying to take over again and if I fall asleep she will not hesitate to betray us all." She hoped quietly that Starling would understand, would not condemn her or lose her trust in Piper anymore than what trust had already been lost. To lose her friends… It was not a possibility that Piper really wanted to contemplate.

"I see…" Starling said quietly as Piper held her breath, "Well, I guess those psionic crystals are a bit more potent than we thought, you better get to work on developing a way to fully neutralize them right away."

"Right, I'll get right on it." Piper said, happy that Starling still trusted her as she pulled out her pilfered notes. As Starling left, she delved into her dark side's notes, eager to find some sort of cure for her condition as well as any other useful information.

While the Storm Hawks fled the battle zone with Piper, Vespos and the other four Ancients with him returned to the main battlefield riding the skimmers the Storm Hawks had taken to the facility, knowing that Master Cyclonis would undoubtedly take out her wrath on the Sky Knights battling here. As they arrived, Vespos found that his conclusion was indeed valid, already the Portal Crystal tower on Tundras seethed with incredibly potent streamers of energy, a sure sign that a massive number of vessels were going to be traveling through the portal created by the gem. Knowing this, it was of the utmost importance that the Sky Knights flee this area as quickly as possible. Set in his decision, he immediately cruised over to the nearest Sky Knight, the Blizzarian Sky Knight. She was level headed enough to realize the importance of his warning and, more importantly, was not one of the accursed Rex Guardians.

"We must flee this area! The portal crystal seethes with energy; Master Cyclonis wants vengeance for our strike at her research labs." Vespos called out before heading off to warn other squadrons. Before he could reach the next squadron however, a lance of red energy cut across his path as the Dark Ace swooped in, leading a wing of Talons into the fray.

"Well congratulations Vespos, you have earned yourself the spot of being the target of Master Cyclonis's full wrath. It takes quite a bit to do that." Dark  
Ace said as he removed the firebolt crystal powering his blade. "You have earned yourself the honor of being the first target of the newest crystal Master Cyclonis has developed: the Dying Light crystal. I think you'll really enjoy this." The Dark Ace continued as he pulled out a predominately black crystal with a red end.

"You have corrupted the Aurora Stone!" Vespos exclaimed in outrage as he sensed the power the stone had. "Master Cyclonis forged that crystal in pure malevolence; no crystal should be forged as such."

"Does it matter?" the Dark Ace said as he locked the crystal into place, producing a blade of black energy occasionally streaked with red wisps of energy. "Time to be defeated once and for all!" he continued as he leapt up into his Sky Knight move.

"Ancients!" Vespos yelled, summoning several other Ancients to him. Together, the group wrapped the area around the Dark Ace in a powerful energy shield. "You shall not strike us all down with one blow."

As the Dark Ace finished his strike, a massive wave of energy exploded outward from his blade, slamming into the shield an instant later. The shield pulsed brilliantly, managing to redirect some of the energy back onto itself and for a moment it looked as though the barrier might contain the blast, but then a second wave of energy smashed into the sphere of energy, collapsing the protective shell and allowing the massive ring of energy to spill outward. Normally such an attack would have been followed by mass destruction, but the shield the Ancients had woven to contain the empowered strike had greatly weakened the move to the point where it was unable to destroy the skimmers it slammed into. Instead, the nearby skimmers were tossed about like boats on a stormy sea, causing some of the Sky Knights to lose their balance or fall off, but the majority managed to ride the shockwave out with little difficulty. As the wall of energy passed, Vespos noticed that several of the Ancients had collapsed, the effort that went into trying to contain the assault having exhausted many of them to the brink of unconsciousness.

"Well, that was surprising…" Dark Ace said with genuine surprise in his tone, "I didn't think there was a force in the Atmos that could stop or lessen the Aurora Stone's power and this crystal is an exact duplicate."

"It is not quite an exact duplicate, there are details relating to it that not even your master knows about." Vespos said cryptically as he leapt over to the Dark Ace's skimmer. Staying in close range was vital to prevent him from using the shockwave again, and since the Ancients could not stop another attack like that, preventing such an occurrence was crucial to their survival. As he whirled under a slash from the Dark Ace, Vespos quickly noted that most of the other Sky Knight squadrons had fled the area, the only exceptions being the Ancients and the Rex Guardians. As he rose up in a vertical strike, Vespos silently cursed the stubborn pride that was so typical of the Rex Guardians. Absolute victory or absolute defeat seemed to generally be their standard of ending a battle, and that belief was interfering with the plan they had laid out. After what seemed like a small eternity however, the Rex Guardians finally began to withdraw, allowing the Ancients the opportunity to retreat as well.

"Oh no, this time you will not escape." The Dark Ace said as he too noticed that the Ancients were beginning to fall back.

"There is just one thing you are forgetting Dark Ace…" Vespos said as he pulled out the teleportation stone he had stolen from the spymaster earlier. With a brilliant flash, he both vanished and temporarily blinded the Dark Ace, giving the other Ancients time to escape before the Dark Ace could use his Knight Move again. As he recovered a moment later, the Dark Ace looked around the Talon-controlled the battlefield, his rage building as he took off for the Portal Crystal Tower. Next time he would destroy those accursed Ancients, they would not be so lucky…


	42. Chapter 42

**Darkening Skies: Unity of the Master**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 8**

In the four days since she had been rescued, Piper had not slept and had spent all her time immersed in the notes that the Storm Hawks had stolen from the Cyclonian research facility. The notes had been both informative and frightening with regards to their analysis of the crystals Cyclonia now used. Still, it had given her an idea as to how to save Aerrow and end the threat of Cyclonia once and for all, but her plan would require careful timing, particularly given how carefully Master Cyclonis was guarding Night Aerrow now that Piper had been freed from her control. Unfortunately, plans requiring careful timing did not seem to work, at least in her recent memory. According to Starling though, as long as they were very careful and thorough, such plans had been very effective at dealing crippling blows to Cyclonia and Piper was not about to argue with the results. She had done so, and was hopeful this plan would work, provided the first step in the process succeeded…

"A leave of absence? It is most unusual for you to make such a request Marrshal." Master Cyclonis said as she lorded over the spymaster from her throne. "Might I ask what prompted this action?"

"I failed you during the last encounter with the rebels and allowed them to capture the teleportation stone that enabled their plan to succeed. This is unacceptable to me and certainly unacceptable to you, if I cannot perfectly do my job than I am worse than useless, especially given my lack of combat ability compared to the other commanders. Thus, I need time to re-hone my skills so that I may serve to the fullest of my capacity. This will take time and I must not be distracted by other pressing concerns, else I will not be able to fully re-train myself to the fullest extent of my abilities. I have arranged for several of my subordinates to continue working on observing the rebels in my absence, so hopefully the thoroughness of the reports you receive will not be diminished." Marrshal said in as contrite a tone as possible, knowing that there was a high probability of Cyclonis frying him for such a request, especially considering she had yet to punish him for his failure at Tundras.

"Hmm… Just what does this retraining entail?"

"I will be spending most of my time in the Wastelands and the Great Expanse, learning to avoid detection by the creatures there as well as improve my evasion and sneaking skills. I will also likely have to infiltrate the Murk Raiders and other rogue groups to work on my observational talents."

"Interesting, this will likely be a very grueling experience, will it not? Very well, as you punishment, I will allow you to re-train yourself, you will receive no aid from Cyclonia in this endeavor, understood?"

"I understand." Marrshal said before he vanished into the shadows of the throne room to go and prepare himself for the journey ahead.

"I don't understand why we're doing this…" Finn said as he carried a small box into the room the Ancients had given Piper for the purpose of testing her theory. The room was circular in layout with two thick concentric silver rings laid into the floor around a sapphire that had been set into the floor in the center of the chamber. Three spikes drove through the rings, pointing to the gem in the center. The entire design pulsed with a dull silver-white glow, softly illuminating the room from below. According to the Ancients, the design was inlaid with some kind of barrier crystal which would prevent Dark Piper from contacting Master Cyclonis should anything go wrong.

"Because Finn, I am getting a little tired of being awake all day and night… Besides, we need some method to quickly dispel the influence of these psionic crystals. According to the notes I read, Master Cyclonis further modified these crystals to disperse into the bloodstream, preventing them from being removed as before. So, I developed this method to weaken and eliminate the influence the psionic crystals have by locking these special harmonized blocker crystal collars on. Now remember there needs to be one collar on each arm and one on my neck; that should keep them close enough together to reinforce each other's effects, at least according to my research. If I'm wrong though, at least we have plenty of safeguards."

"Let's hope nothing goes wrong." Starling said as she finished strapping Piper into the restraining chair they had brought in. After Piper was securely strapped in, Starling took out an antidote to Stork's serum and let Piper drink it. Within a couple minutes, Piper nodded off, only to wake up an instant later with a scowl on her face.

"This won't work Sky Knight, Master Cyclonis will win this war and I will take great pleasure in freezing you in cry…" Dark Piper stated coldly before she was cut off by a hand across the mouth from Finn.

"Thank you Finn." Starling said as she took out the first blocker collar and locked it on Piper's arm. Seeing no change in Piper's disposition, Starling then proceeded to take out the second collar and locked it on her other arm. This time, there was a noticeable difference as Piper went rigid; not even blinking or breathing as she evidently was struggling in some internal battle. Realizing the danger, Starling quickly grabbed the last collar and clamped it on Piper's neck, producing a loud gasp for air from Piper as she began breathing again.

"Whew, that… was frightening." Piper said as she caught her breath, "Dark Piper did not want to give up control easily. But it seems to have worked; I am me again, although she is still whispering in the back of my mind…"

"Hopefully that will fade with time." Starling said quietly, hopeful that the procedure had been as successful as planned. "In that case, now is as good a time as any to present your plan to the Sky Knight Assembly."

"Right and we can finally rescue Aerrow and free the Atmos from Cyclonis." Piper said with conviction. Now that Dark Piper was just a quiet whisper in the back of her mind, she could focus all the more on their plans to save Atmosia and Aerrow.


	43. End Infinite

**Darkening Skies: End Infinite**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 1**

"Now, as you can see from these diagrams, the immense power of the Duplication Crystal makes it physically very fragile." Piper said as she addressed the Sky Knight Assembly a couple hours later. "It has unlimited duplication capacity, but so fragile that even a drop of a foot or so would be enough to break it. This is likely a result of the fact that the crystal is solidified energy and so has little substance right now. Given enough time, that could change, so it is imperative that we strike now. Now, the crystal will be heavily guarded, so the majority of our forces will be deployed with the intent to destroy it."

"What about the Knights not included in that force?" Harrier asked, interrupting Piper's presentation.

"The rest will be heading to Terra Atmosia to rescue Aerrow, then rushing to Cyclonia to assist the rest of you in destroying the Duplication Crystal. We know that Aerrow will be there because Master Cyclonis has taken great care to keep him out of combat and away from us and Atmosia is currently the second most secure area of the Cyclonian Empire. Since we are going to be letting news of our assault slip to Cyclonia, she will immediately send Aerrow to somewhere 'safe,' in this case Atmosia." Piper said, bracing herself for the reactionary outburst.

"You are going to let Cyclonis know we are attacking Cyclonia?!" Harrier shouted as he slammed his fist into the desk in front of him. "Have you lost your mind? That will make our assault impossible!"

"Not necessarily, particularly since we are not going to let them know our true goal. They will think we are attacking Cyclonia to rescue Aerrow, not destroy the Duplication Crystal. In addition, I have developed a new weapon for you to use: blocker crystal enhanced missiles, which should be able to knock large numbers of Talons out of the air, not to mention they will saturate the air with blocker crystal energies, dispersing any duplicates. The Ancients with provide everyone with specialized solaris crystals like the ones they use which will allow our weapons and skimmers to continue functioning in such an environment."

"Yes, we have many spares left over…" Vespos said, glaring at Harrier for a second before turning back to face Piper. "Enough to equip most everyone with our special crystals."

"Right…" Piper said, hoping to neatly sidestep the whole issue with the Ancients and Rex Guardians. "Now, Vespos will be leading the assault on Cyclonia and I expect him to be fair while everyone cooperates with him." At her comment, both Harrier and Vespos exchanged glares, stopping only when Piper cleared her throat loudly.

"Anyways…" Piper continued, "Meanwhile, the Storm Hawks and I will infiltrate Atmosia and rescue Aerrow, hopefully while a number of the garrison there have been pulled to defend Cyclonia."

"You realize this plan has very little chance of success right?" Harrier said suddenly.

"Yes, but let's face facts, we have little choice in the matter, the longer we wait, the more power of the Duplication Crystal Cyclonis will unlock and the more difficult it will be to destroy the crystal. Also, the longer we wait, the more difficult it will be to rescue Aerrow and trying to achieve these goals one at a time will only result in the other becoming that much more difficult. Please, I have reviewed the scenarios for each method of accomplishing both of these goals and this has the best chance of success, albeit by a slim margin."

"Very well then, let us hope for the best." Harrier said as Piper began to go into the details of the main attack on Cyclonia.

Master Cyclonis leaned back in her throne, contemplating the report that one of Marrshal's subordinates had handed her. By all appearances, the rebels were preparing to launch a massive all-out strike on Cyclonia, although the purpose of the attack had not yet been ascertained. She sighed heavily as she set the report to one side, wishing that Marrshal had been the one to deliver the report, he would have provided a list of possible targets and recommendations on how to counter, but these men were too cautious, too afraid of making an erroneous conclusion or recommendation. Perhaps it had been a mistake to let him go on his little excursion, even if it was intended as a punishment in addition to a training exercise.

"It's not until we lack something that we truly appreciate it." She said quietly to the now empty room. It was a lesson she had been forced to learn again and again these past few months, between the loss of the peace due to the freedom of the Sky Knights to the loss of her best friend Piper and now the temporary loss of Marrshal. Piper was the most burdensome of those losses though, the two had finally become best friends over the course of the year that Piper had lived in Cyclonia, much in the same way that Night Aerrow and Dark Ace had become friends. Even now the two of them were sparing together in one of the simulated environments built in the new wing that had been added to the reconstructed central spire of Cyclonia. Perhaps they had the right attitude in this regard, they had not really lost a friend, Piper was just away for a while and would return eventually. That was a much more optimistic approach to the problem. Even so, that still left the problem of how to retrieve Piper, not to mention those accursed Sky Knights were on the move again, something which seemed to be a constant theme these days. A final solution needed to be found for this Sky Knight problem, her Dying Light crystals were not enough thanks to those infernal Ancients. Were it not for the Ancients she would have crushed all who opposed her long ago… So it was clear that they must be eliminated, it was something Marrshal would enjoy greatly, particularly since it combined his passion for information gathering with his desire for vengeance. With that thought, she quickly grabbed a sheet of paper from a hidden compartment in her throne and wrote down some new objectives for Marrshal to follow through on. The note would eventually find its way to the spymaster regardless of where he was or what he was doing, of that she was certain.

In the meantime, she had another issue with security to deal with, namely ensuring that Aerrow was safe from any ill-conceived rescue attempts. That was likely the reason why the Sky Knights were attacking Cyclonia; they had been obsessed with rescuing him since day one. Moving him to his citadel on Atmosia would ensure they could not rescue him, although he would not be able to participate in the actual battle. An unfortunate necessity, as long as Piper was fighting for the Sky Knights there was always the chance that they would discover a way to fully undo her corruption. With any luck though, this battle would change everything back to the way it was…Aerrow.


	44. Chapter 44

**Darkening Skies: End Infinite**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 2**

It was dusk when the Storm Hawks quietly snuck onto Atmosia by flying in below the Wasteland cloud line and then climbing their way up to the habitable surface of the terra. A time consuming method to be sure, but it was the best way to infiltrate the terra without being spotted beforehand. Thankfully no patrols spotted them and they were able to sneak into one of the outlying garrisons with relative ease. The Talons here might be more skilled than the average Talon by virtue of their commander, but they still were useless when it came to preventing a covert infiltration. Provided the spymaster did not have any operatives stationed here on Atmosia currently… The man was not omniscient though, he might not see this coming. Even if he did, the mass assault on Cyclonia would necessitate the primary deployment be at Cyclonia. Especially considering that the assault would begin in only a few short hours, while it was still night in Cyclonia. With the carriers as backup, particularly the Ancients' carrier, they should be able to make a good fight of it until the Storm Hawks could arrive with Aerrow. And that was exactly what they would do, using the uniforms liberated from the patrol garrison to infiltrate the main citadel that had been built up on top of the Council building and Beacon Tower. The citadel loomed over the once peaceful terra, darkly outlined through the stars blotted out by its walls and towers. Of course, they would have to sneak into the guard rotation, but that would not be too much of a problem.

Vespos stood quietly on the bridge of the Rex Guardian carrier, trying his best not to show how disgusted he was to be on the vessel instead of his own. The Rex Guardians were the respected legacy bearers of the Sky Knights however and so he was forced to command the Sky Knight fleet from this position, if only to maintain appearances. Appearances were ever so important sadly, even in times such as these. Speaking of appearances… Vespos looked out the windows at the black skies that surrounded the carrier; skies devoid of all light, even the running lights of the carriers had been extinguished to maintain as much stealth as possible. All was in readiness; all they had to do was keep Cyclonis occupied long enough where she would not realize what their true aims were.

"So, do you think this will work?" Harrier asked from behind him suddenly, his first attempt to communicate with Vespos on the entire journey. "Do you think we can trust the Storm Hawks given all that has happened?"

"You do not trust them then I take it?" Vespos replied tersely.

"Well, two of their members did betray the Sky Knight Code and now one of them has switched back to our side and is working to rescue the other traitor. It sounds suspiciously like a setup to me; they infiltrate and then tear apart the resistance from the inside." Harrier said casually.

"There are extenuating circumstances in this case… Piper is truly on our side and so too will Aerrow be." Vespos said, his tone indicating that the conversation, such as it was, was finished.

"You're simply saying that to contradict me Vespos. Ever since we met you have treated me in a condescending and rude manner and I will not tolerate such an insult to my honor."

"You deserve no better treatment than you receive, unless you can tell me why I would treat you in such a manner. As for honor, the Rex Guardians have none."

"Now see here, I don't know why you insist on being so callous, but I will not let this stand, I hereby challenge you to a duel!" Harrier shouted indignantly as he drew his blade and pointed it at Vespos.

"You do not know why I have cause to hate you? Very well, we have nothing further to say to each other, and I will not duel you since our mission comes before any petty vendetta you may have. And do not lecture me on hypocrisy; I at least am able to correctly assess our priorities. Now put your blade away before I am forced to defend myself, believe me when I say that I have no compunction against harming you." Vespos said calmly without turning to face the other Sky Knight. After a tense second of silence, Harrier finally put his blade away.

"You raise a point, just bear in mind that I will not allow you to besmirch or honor, we will duel someday and I will restore our honor."

"Whatever you say, truthfully though, the stain on your honor cannot be removed by a simple duel, it goes far deeper than something so trivial can resolve, Rex Guardian. Now prepare yourself, our assault begins soon and everyone must be prepared to fight a desperate battle. Cyclonis will come at us with everything she can muster except Night Aerrow and we must endure until the tide can be shifted in our favor."

"Careful Junko, we don't want these explosives to detonate at the wrong time and the calibrations I did would be impossible to jury rig here, without my tools." Piper said as she planted a bundle of explosion crystals behind an arch in the Portal Tower of Atmosia. The explosives had been tuned to special transmitters on the weapons of the carriers that would be participating in the assault on Cyclonia. The system was set up so that a few minutes after the initial volleys were fired the explosives would detonate, cutting Atmosia off from the portal crystal network that was so vital to maintaining the Cyclonian Empire.

Night Aerrow paced back and forth in the 'throne room' of his citadel, located in the former Aurora Stone room atop the Beacon Tower, quietly playing with a small ring that he had planned to give Master Cyclonis during their dinner tonight. Unfortunately, the impending Sky Knight attack had forced them to cancel their dinner together and he had not been able to propose as he had originally intended. Well, one more day would not hurt, that was all the time it would take for the Sky Knights to be crushed by the might of Cyclonia. Then he and Master Cyclonis would have all the time together they wanted, without the distractions that the Sky Knight attacks produced or the quiet worry that showed whenever Master Cyclonis took him out of harm's way by sending him away from the battlefront. There were always the Claw squadrons to duel against and they really were getting fairly competent so it would not be a boring fight, but they lacked the Sky Knight move of the Sky Knights and those always made the fight interesting. Perhaps that was something he and the Dark Ace should incorporate into the training regimen during the next 'lesson.' His friend was sure to like the concept, particularly since it meant that they would get to smack the Claws around with their own Sky Knight moves. For now though, he would simply have to wait in idleness while the battle over Cyclonia played itself out.

Suddenly however, the doors into his chamber burst open as the Storm Hawks charged in, weapons held at the ready. A moment later, a large rumbling explosion shook the citadel, followed by the sounds of some massive structure collapsing in upon itself.

"I here I thought today was going to be boring…" Night Aerrow said in mock relief as he pulled out his twin swords and ignited each in turn.

"Don't worry Aerrow; we're going to save you this time, with the portal to Cyclonia destroyed and a specialized shield crystal preventing any Talons from coming to your aid." Piper said as she pointed her staff at Aerrow.

"You forget about my Link Crystal as well as a few other surprises I have in store for you." Night Aerrow said as he pulled out two Dying Light crystals and locked them into his blades in place of the firebolt crystals that had powered his sword. At the same time, he pulled out a small radio (Marrshal had called it a remote, although Night Aerrow was not sure what was so remote about the device…) and pressed the transmit button. A second later, a series of small pedestals rose up around the edge of the room, a leech crystal encased in a glass cylinder topping each stand. As the pedestals locked into place and the glass cylinders opened through some mechanism Marrshal designed, Night Aerrow grinned, the spymaster had managed to duplicate his contained battlefield perfectly. It had been part of his training regimen to practice fighting under as many different conditions as possible and it would serve him well here. The Storm Hawks, who were not used to being forced to fight in a confined space, would be at a severe disadvantage. That would be the key to his victory…

"Nice trick Aerrow." Starling said as she led off the attack, rushing toward Night Aerrow while spinning her nunchuku around her in a whirling display of violet light. Night Aerrow quickly deflected each successive strike, and then countered by slamming one of his blades into the floor and sending out a shockwave of energy. The blast threw Starling backward into Finn and Junko, the force of her impact knocking both off their feet and Piper and Radarr ran in to engage him. In response, Night Aerrow leapt over their oncoming attack and kicked Piper from behind, sending her sprawling on the floor. Radarr ducked around the blade Night Aerrow swung at him and threw one of his omnipresent wrenches in retaliation. The Cyclonian Knight easily deflected the wrench and stabbed downward, barely missing Radarr with his strike as the 'mission specialist' scampered out of striking range. Not wanting the pest to escape, Night Aerrow gave chase, only to have an energy arrow shoot by his face. He immediately whirled around and deflected another bolt that Finn shot at him. Without further pause, he charged toward Finn, only to be intercepted by Junko, who tried to grab Night Aerrow. In one smooth motion, Night Aerrow dropped down and slid beneath Junko's grasp then catapulted himself back to his feet by going into a handstand and flipping over. As he landed, he swung both blades down at Finn, who quickly was forced to block with his crossbow. Unfortunately, the power of Night Aerrow's Dying Light-empowered blades was much greater than a normal blade and he neatly cut through the crossbow,it was only by luck that Finn managed to escape a similar fate. The blond Storm Hawk fell backwards, causing Night Aerrow to lose his balance as well. Junko was on it immediately and locked Night Aerrow in a bear hug that trapped the fallen Sky Knight's arms.

"Piper!" Junko called over his shoulder as he tried to ignore the pain caused by a sharp kick from Night Aerrow.

"On it!" Piper said as she ran over and locked one of the blocker crystal collars on Aerrow's arm. Before she could lock the next one on however, Night Aerrow kicked forward to knock her away from him, and then swung his legs back into Junko's legs, causing the Wallop to close his eyes from the pain. Taking advantage of that momentary lapse in attention, Night Aerrow jerked his head back and smashed into Junko's face. Reeling from the dual sources of pain, Junko loosened his grip enough for Night Aerrow to slide free and sweep his leg around as soon as he landed, knocking Junko off his feet and kicking Piper further away from him.

"Annoying pests!" he rasped as he stood back up. "You think you can hope to win against the might of Cyclonia? You are sadly mistaken… Even these annoying crystal collars will not imprison me behind the façade of Aerrow, your efforts are pointless."

"You are wrong, you mockery." Piper said as she slowly stood up, "We know more than you think and we will save our friend." With that final proclamation, Piper leapt backward and grabbed one of the leech crystals, infusing it with energy from an energy crystal before throwing it at Night Aerrow. The Cyclonian commander dodged backward in alarm just before the crystal exploded, catching him by surprise as he was unable to get out of the way in time. The explosion sent him sprawling onto the floor, but he quickly recovered and leapt back into a fighting stance, laughing as he did so.

"Well, well, well, how exciting! I shouldn't have expected any less from you Piper! Turning any feature of the battlefield to your advantage, maybe this fight will not be so boring after all." Night Aerrow said as he watched the other Storm Hawks assemble around Piper, positioning himself in the center of the room as they took up fighting stances. "However, you have neglected one fact…" he continued as he leapt up into the air and swung his blades downward, sending a massive arc of energy streaking toward the Sky Knights. Acting quickly, the Storm Hawks dodged out of the way of the deadly wave of energy, but to their surprise it dissipated before it reached them.

"To the center of the room!" Piper yelled suddenly as she realized what had happened and a quiet humming began to fill the room. A second later and every leech crystal in that half of the room exploded; the concussive force propelling the Storm Hawks toward Night Aerrow, who stood in the center of the room, blades held at the ready…

With furious speed, Vespos dispatched Talon after Talon, causing them to either vanish in a flash of light or, rarely, deploy a parachute to stop their free-fall plummets to the Wasteland below. Below him, the Ancient carrier opened fire with every gun available and lashed out with the Lance of the Ancients every time the weapon was charged enough to fire. As a result of this constant barrage of fire, seven of the destroyers present in the battle had been destroyed, although only one had turned out to be real and not a duplicate. Still, any loss of the Cyclonian forces present here was an improvement, regardless of if they were duplicates or not. The one thing that really concerned him however was the fact that the most ominous of Cyclonia's warmachines had yet to appear. The vessel known only as the Devastator had not been seen in months according to the resistance and Vespos doubted very much that Cyclonis had simply melted it down to make more vessels. That was not how she operated by all accounts, and if that vessel showed up, the resistance would be caught between it and the sky fortresses that slowly circled around the main tower of Cyclonia. They would likely not survive such a massing of firepower. It was probable that Cyclonis was merely luring the Sky Knight fleet deeper into a trap, one that would only be triggered when there was no chance of the Sky Knights being able to retreat. Their one chance for survival rested primarily in surprising the Cyclonians and key to that was the successful liberation of Aerrow combined with the destruction of the Duplication Crystal.

"What fun, I thought for sure you'd hide for a while longer before emerging again, but it looks like I was wrong and we get to face off once more." A familiar voice said from above and Vespos pulled into a barrel roll to avoid the energy bolt the Dark Ace flung at him. A second later, Dark Ace went shooting by on his skimmer, but Vespos was not fool enough to think that was the last he would see of the man, a suspicion confirmed as the Dark Ace leveled out and turned around to head back to where Vespos was. Inwardly, Vespos grimaced, he had hoped that the Dark Ace would not spot him, he had no time to play with the Cyclonian Knight right now, and he needed to get to where the Duplication Crystal was kept. True, that was the goal of every Ancient currently, but Vespos wanted to be there to help destroy that accursed crystal. He had sensed it before when they had infiltrated Cyclonia, the tainted energy of a Stormweaver crystal. That a Stormweaver crystal would be found in Cyclonia was no big surprise and so he had not fathomed the importance of that tainted crystal until Piper had described the Duplication Crystal notes she had read.

A sudden leap from the Dark Ace snapped Vespos out of his thoughts and refocused his attention on what the Dark Ace was doing. Thankfully the leap had not been the precursor to a Knight move, but rather was the Dark Ace leaping over to fight Vespos hand to hand on his skimmer. With a seemingly lazy ease born of practice, Vespos raised his blade to block the Dark Ace's initial strike, then leaped out of his seat, propelling the Dark Ace backward due to the sudden shift in momentum. The Dark Ace only stumbled slightly however, then recovered and brought his sword down and around in a vicious horizontal slash. Vespos quickly wrapped his cloak around the hilt of the sword as it passed by and pulled, throwing the Dark Ace off his skimmer and into the open air when the man refused to let go of his weapon. Not waiting to give the commander a chance to catch up, Vespos kicked the accelerator on his skimmer and shot away from the fight zone, dropping back into his seat as he sped along. Behind him, he heard the Dark Ace deploy his glider pack and fly off, heading back to his own ride to pursue Vespos, but the Ancient intended to vanish into the flurry of fighting around them before that could happen. True, his flight would probably alert the Dark Ace that something was up, provided the Cyclonians did not already know what their 'plan' was. Besides, Vespos conceded wryly, as long as the Dark Ace was pursuing him the other Sky Knights would be relatively safe. Now all he needed to do was rendezvous with the other Ancients and follow their senses until they lead them right to the Duplication Crystal. Thankfully, their prior infiltration of Cyclonia had proven that the crystal they sought was not in the throne room, meaning that Cyclonis herself might not be protecting the tainted gem. However, that was not a guarantee, so Vespos would have to make sure the others were prepared to fight the crystalmancer again.


	45. Chapter 45

**Darkening Skies: End Infinite**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 3**

Piper ground her staff into the floor, the sudden point of friction dropping her side-first onto the floor and killing her momentum just a foot short of Aerrow's striking range. Around her, the other Storm Hawks used similar methods to avoid flying into the lethal zone around their corrupted friend; Junko slammed his fists down onto the floor while Finn used his face and Starling stabbed her nunchuku into the floor. Radarr was fortunate; he was small enough to avoid Aerrow's notice since he had been distracted by the other Storm Hawks. With seemingly inhuman speed, Piper vaulted to her feet and swung her staff at Aerrow, but her opponent had noticed her movement and easily swung to block then spun his blade around to disarm Piper. As her staff was wrenched out of her grasp, Piper quickly backpedaled to get out of striking range. Once again Piper silently cursed the fact that Aerrow's considerable skill in combat had been turned against them, he knew who among the Storm Hawks was the greatest threat and would watch them accordingly. However, Piper had thought this through carefully and already had planned a strategy that would take advantage of Aerrow's knowledge. In fact, the first part of that plan should be enacted very soon.

Seemingly in response to her thoughts, Finn fired an energy crystal bolt from his backup crossbow at Aerrow. Night Aerrow raised his blade to simply deflect the oncoming attack, as would be expected, particularly since it was typical for Finn to attack from a range and Night Aerrow had plenty of practice with deflecting such attacks. However, this was no ordinary energy arrow as was proved an instant later as the point and shaft of the arrow exploded outward into an array of shield crystals that immediately generated a shield circle several feet across. The energy field slammed into Aerrow full force, knocking the fallen Sky Knight off his feet as Junko charged in to pin him down. Aerrow had been expecting that however, and countered with a wicked slash in Junko's direction, sending out an energy arc that threw the Wallop off his feet and carried him backward into the nearest wall. Junko had been a distraction however, as Aerrow found out a moment later when Starling smashed him in the chest with her nunchuku, forcing him back onto the floor as well as knocking the wind out of him. Taking advantage of his momentary incapacitation, Piper and Finn rushed in to hold Aerrow down.

"Starling!" Piper yelled as the former Interceptor pulled out another crystal collar and locked it on Aerrow's other arm. To Piper's surprise however, Aerrow did not go into a catatonic state as she had when the second collar had been attached.

"Heh heh heh… Did you really think it would be so easy?" Aerrow said in a double voice similar to what Master Cyclonis spoke in when threatening others. "Even as you locked the second collar on I asked Master Cyclonis for aid and she has reinforced my psionic crystals. And now…" With a wicked grin, Aerrow's eyes flashed crimson red and a shockwave of crystal energy exploded outward from him, throwing the nearby Storm Hawks backwards. As they flew backwards, Aerrow generated a levitation crystal field around himself and floated back onto his feet before the red aura faded. Almost casually, Aerrow extended his arms as streamers of crystal energy exploded forth, solidifying into leecher crystals on top of the empty pedestals where the leecher crystals had been detonated earlier. With a sweeping motion, Night Aerrow then proceeded to blast the Storm Hawks back into the walls with a massive levitation field pulse. Without pause, he rapidly fired bolts of crystal energy into every leech crystal in the room while he continued to press his former friends against the walls of the chamber. With each leecher crystal reaching critical energy, he grinned at Piper while he continued to hold the others in harm's way.

"This fight ends now, except for you Piper, Master Cyclonis will be most happy to have you return to her." Night Aerrow said as the humming from the leecher crystals intensified.

"Wrong in this case." Piper said defiantly, "Now Stork!"

In response to her call, Stork dropped down from the ceiling where he had been hiding and latched onto Aerrow, locking the last collar around the Sky Knight's neck as he did so. With a furious roar, Night Aerrow pulled the Merb off him and threw him across the room, staggering as he did so.

"I… will not… go down… so easily…" Night Aerrow said haltingly as the aura of crystal energy around him faded, his link to Master Cyclonis severed by the blocker crystals.

"Give up Night Aerrow and give us back the real Aerrow." Finn said as he and the other Storm Hawks walked in closer, weapons held at the ready.

"I… am the real Aerrow!" Night Aerrow said with an evil grin, "The 'Aerrow' you knew is gone!"

"I doubt it very much." Piper said as she pulled out a vial of the serum Stork had developed. "Guess we will need this after all, Junko, hold him still."

"Right Piper," Junko said as he grabbed Night Aerrow in a bear hug to pin the Cyclonian Knight's arms. Meanwhile, Starling and Finn grabbed Aerrow's legs to prevent him from kicking Piper or Junko. With Aerrow held securely in place, Piper quickly forced him to drink the serum, then stepped back out of easy striking range, just in case.

"NOOOO! I WILL NOT LET IT END LIKE THIS!" Night Aerrow yelled as he violently struggled to break free. "I WILL NOT SURRENDER! I… I remember…" he continued, his yell suddenly fading to a quiet whisper. "The spymaster… the one responsible… his name… his name…"

"Aerrow, you remember his name? What is it?" Starling asked urgently.

"Memory… fading… Marrshal? Was that it? I cannot remember anymore…" Aerrow managed to say before he passed out, leaving the other Storm Hawks to look at each other in confusion and concern.

"No!" Master Cyclonis cried as she was jolted out of her link with Night Aerrow. "Not Night Aerrow… I must go immediately and save him!" she continued, focusing her energy on teleporting herself to the Citadel on Atmosia. To her surprise, she found she could not, a fact which startled her. Suddenly she remembered that Piper and the other Storm Hawks had destroyed the portal crystal on Atmosia, meaning it was too far away for her to teleport to. This also meant that she could not save Night Aerrow she realized as an unusual feeling began to grow inside her, a terrible feeling like none she had felt before. It felt as if the entire world were collapsing around her as though life had become dark, was this what despair felt like? Indisposed as she was trying to overcome the despair that threatened to overwhelm her, she did not notice the Ancients assembling quietly around the room. Nor did she notice Vespos quietly striding forward, his blade poised to finish her off in a single blow.

"So, it comes to this… How dishonorable that our best chance to kill you should come like this." Vespos said as he raised his blade to slay Master Cyclonis. "Please defend yourself."

"No." Master Cyclonis said simply as she melted into the floor, leaving the Ancients alone with the Duplication Crystal, which had been forgotten in her distraction.

"That was… unexpected." Vespos said, surprised that Cyclonis had not tried to attack them as would have been expected of her. "Regardless, we must not waste this opportunity…" He continued as he walked up to the Duplication Crystal, sword held at the ready.

As Vespos ran the Duplication Crystal through a massive pulse of greenish light washed out from the main tower of Cyclonia, dissolving every last duplicate as it passed by. Talons, frigates and destroyers without number vanished in a flash, returned to the oblivion from whence they came. The embattled Sky Knights around Cyclonia suddenly found the odds against them much more favorable, the ratio of Talons to Sky Knights decreasing from one hundred to one to more along the lines of three to one. Given the greater skill and competency of the Sky Knights, such odds were easily overcome although the Dark Ace would still present a challenge if confronted in one-on-one combat.

From her vantage point in the observatory of the main tower, Master Cyclonis watched the battle unfold with a heavy heart; everything she had desired had been taken from her: she had lost control of the Atmos, her boyfriend and her best friend. Suddenly, her despair sharpened into resolve, if she could not have what she desired, the Sky Knights would suffer her full wrath.

"Captain, deploy the Devastator, kill them all, leave no Sky Knight alive." She said venomously as she turned away from the battle outside.

"By your command Master."

Harrier dispatched another Talon, grateful that those Ancients had at least had the skill to destroy the Duplication Crystal. That had made the fight much easier and would ensure their victory, provided everyone stayed away from the floating fortresses that orbited the main tower of Cyclonia as well as the defense emplacements on the defense wall surrounding the dark terra. Of course the Dark Ace was still a problem, as was Night Aerrow, but Harrier was certain that he and the Rex Guardians would prevail this time around. However, as he shot another Talon out of the sky, Harrier found himself confronted with the largest destroyer he had ever witnessed rising out of the clouds that shrouded the Wastelands below.

"What in the…" Harrier said in awe as the Devastator trained dozens of blaster cannons on the Sky Knight. The imminent threat snapped Harrier out of his entranced state, and the Rex Guardian quickly dove out of the way just before the blasters opened fire. As he continued to dodge fire from the massive ship, Harrier realized that the real battle had just begun, in order to survive; the Sky Knights would have to get by that vessel. That would quite a feat...


	46. Chapter 46

**Darkening Skies: End Infinite**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

**Chapter 4**

As the Condor raced toward Cyclonia, the Storm Hawks sans Stork were gathered around Aerrow in the medical bay, waiting for their friend to emerge from the semi-comatose state he had been in since he had finally been released from the control of Night Aerrow. Piper carefully monitored his vital signs, wanting to make sure that they did not lose their friend. Hopefully he would wake up soon; they would need his help in the coming fight around Cyclonia, particularly if the Ancients had not managed to destroy the Duplication Crystal. Still, there was still hope; Aerrow's lifesigns had remained steady and strong since they had brought him into the medical center. The only issue seemed to be psychological trauma and that concerned Piper, particularly since there was no way of knowing if Aerrow had suffered mental damage or not. From her own notes and experience, she was certain he had not, but Aerrow had been under the influence of those psionic crystals longer than she had, there might be side effects that her research had been to short-term to uncover. Behind her, Finn and Junko quietly worked together on properly grinding and mixing together different medicinal herbs, Junko grinding the herbs while Finn measured out the proportions. The medicinal mixture they were making was designed to be soothing and would hopefully ease Aerrow back into a conscious state. If not, well, at least they would ease Aerrow's mind, which was in a state of turmoil if his expressions were any indication. For her part, Starling was reading through Piper's notes to see if they had missed anything that might be helpful while Radarr simply was watching Aerrow quietly, acting more like a pet than was normal for him.

"Any change?" Starling said as she looked up from her reading.

"Unfortunately no." Piper said as Finn brought over the completed medicine. Before she could begin to apply it however, Aerrow stirred on his bed and suddenly bolted upright, wide awake.

"Uh!" Aerrow grunted as he laid back down, his wide-eyed expression changing to a more relaxed expression. "What happened? Did we win the fight over Neon?"

"Um… Not really…" Piper said slowly, trying to suppress the winch that accompanied her memories of that day, memories linked with the battle of Vapos, a day that would be forever etched into her memory. "Look Aerrow, there are some things you need to understand…"

Vespos emerged from the main tower of Cyclonia to find the skies outside embroiled in a fierce battle between the Sky Knights and the Devastator of Cyclonia. So, it seemed that Cyclonis had decided to annihilate them all for what they had done, and by the lack of carriers in the sky, she had done quite a bit of damage already. Not wasting time, Vespos dove into the fray, destroying any Switchblade that flew in his path as he drove straight for the Devastator, which to his senses was a whirling maelstrom of tainted crystal energy. However, as before, the Dark Ace imposed himself between Vespos and his goal.

"So, your full plan is now revealed…" Dark Ace said as he pointed his sword at Vespos, "You're clever, too bad that cleverness has a steep cost." As he finished speaking, the Dark Ace swung his sword horizontally, throwing an arc of crimson energy at the Ancient leader. Vespos saw it coming however and quickly flew over the plane of the wave and then dove toward the Dark Ace, firing bolt after bolt of energy as he did so. When he was close enough, Vespos leapt onto the commander's Switchblade and hammered the other man's guard with a strong downward blow that knocked the Dark Ace back down into his seat. He then leapt backward toward the front of the skimmer and sliced through the joint connecting the wings to the body of the craft before landing back on his own skimmer. To his surprise, the Dark Ace did not leap free of his crashing ride but simply placed his hand on the control panel and smirked at Vespos. Far below, the severed wings flashed dimly and then flew back up to where the Dark Ace was, reintegrating with the structure of the Switchblade as they did so. With his skimmer fully intact, the Dark Ace sped up to catch Vespos, his Dying Light empowered blade held in an aggressive striking position.

"You are persistent… An admirable trait under other circumstances." Vespos said to himself as he leapt up and spun to face his approaching adversary. "I hate doing this, but you leave me no choice Dark Ace." He continued as he pulled out a Phoenix Crystal and locked it into his chest plate while he sheathed his blade. As he did so, a dull orange luster began to suffuse throughout his normally pale blue-white crystal armor and his heavy over-cloak flared outward, whipping about as if caught in a tornado. With a loud cry that transformed into the shriek of a phoenix, the air around Vespos burst into flame, the combined effects of the fire and flapping cloak making him look roughly like an actual phoenix. Without wasting another moment, Vespos flew at the Dark Ace, knocking the surprised Cyclonian off his skimmer while at the same time burning the fabric of his uniform where it came into contact with Vespos. Even his metal armor glowed dimly from the brief contact and the Dark Ace hurriedly fanned his armor to cool it down before it melted. Satisfied that melted metal would not scald him now, the Dark Ace deployed his glider and quickly scanned the sky for the Ancient, desperate to dodge his next charge so as to avoid damage to his glider. He spotted Vespos just in time to avoid that next charge and was forced into a barrel roll to avoid having one of his wings torn off by the rampaging Sky Knight. This fight had become surprisingly difficult, particularly since if he used his Knight Move he would waste actual Talons as well as Sky Knights, leaving Cyclonia relatively defenseless should any of the Sky Knights survive. Not to mention the fact that the Ancients would probably use their barrier to contain the blast and he had no desire to relive that nightmarish event. He had nearly died in the energized environment that had existed inside the shield bubble, only by using his move a second time had he been able to break through in time to save himself. So, his best option was to outlast Vespos, since from what he had seen in the last flyby he could conclude that the power of this move was harmful to Vespos as well, slowly burning the Sky Knight's skin and eventually reducing it to ash probably. Of course, it was debatable that he would last that long if he could not get back to his ride, a goal which Vespos was proving most adept at preventing.

"Give up Dark Ace; you will not win even if I am forced to rescind this transformation." Vespos said, his voice underscored by the shrieking of a phoenix.

"No chance." Dark Ace shot back boldly as he neared his skimmer. Instead of answering verbally however, Vespos pulled out his sword and held it in front of him in a ceremonial fashion, the blade tip pointing straight toward the Wastelands. With a loud shriek, the flaming aura around Vespos exploded outward into several dozen flaming meteors. Caught by surprise, the Dark Ace had no chance to dodge as Vespos directed the meteors to strike him with pinpoint accuracy, shredding his glider and sending the Dark Ace into a slow spiral toward the Wastelands below. However, the Dark Ace was not without options, a lesson he had taken to heart after his first encounter with Vespos, and quickly fired a secondary jet booster on his glider pack, allowing him to rocket back up to his skimmer as Vespos landed back on his own craft. The Ancient pulled out the Phoenix Crystal and replaced it with an deep green crystal of some kind, presumably some kind of healing crystal to repair the damage his body had suffered. The Dark Ace scowled in response, this fight was probably going to take awhile, meaning that the other Sky Knights would have time to dispatch more Talons while he fought the Ancient. Well, he did not want an easy fight after all and this certainly was living up to his expectations.

"I can't believe I did all those things…" Aerrow said in shock as Piper finished telling him everything that they knew had happened over the past two years. While he sat quietly contemplating what he had been told, Piper looked over Aerrow. Even though he was no longer Night Aerrow, he still retained many of the features that had become standard; his hair was still darker than normal although it was much lighter than it had been. His eyes still remained red however, a disconcerting contrast to the bright green eyes that Piper was used to. After a long pause however, Aerrow continued, "Turned on Atmosia and nearly destroyed the Sky Knights? Why?"

"Like I said, Master Cyclonis used her psionic crystals to turn you to her side; it wasn't you who was really doing those things, it was some twisted version of you." Piper said soothingly, gently holding Aerrow's hand as the two talked in his quarters where the other Storm Hawks would not bother them during this time of crisis. After all, Aerrow had been forced to destroy everything he believed in, had been twisted into a mere shadow of himself for the sole purpose of serving Cyclonis. Even though he remembered nothing of the time between the battle at Vapos and when he had woken up in the medical center, it would take time for him to recover from this, but Piper would be there for him and together they would both recover from their ordeal.

"How can I ever be trusted again? I betrayed everyone because I was not strong enough to fend off the effects of those crystals…" Aerrow said despairingly before Piper grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Aerrow there was no way you could have fended off the effects of those crystals, I have read the notes I took on them and I know that better than anyone. I know it hurts, but no one will blame you, they all know what happened."

"Except maybe Harrier?" Aerrow said with a hint of a grin on his face. He was clearly struggling to overcome his feelings of guilt, something which Piper could understand.

"Well, you know Harrier; he only believes what he likes." Piper said, hoping that going along with Aerrow's comment would lighten his mood. "Come on, the sooner we get you fighting those Cyclonians, the sooner you will feel better, I can attest to the effectiveness of it." She continued with a smile as she stood up and turned to face Aerrow.

"You're right, sitting here stewing in it won't help me any." Aerrow said as he too stood with a weak smile on his face.

"If you ever need to talk, I'll always be here for you." Piper said as she walked toward the door, "Now come on, let's go see how we can help free Atmosia."

"Right." Aerrow said as he followed Piper to the bridge of the Condor.

"Status?" Aerrow asked as he walked onto the bridge, trying to get back into his old routine as quickly as possible.

"We are about fifteen minutes from Cyclonia." Stork said nervously as he indicated the stormy skies outside. "So about twelve minutes from seeing the method of our demise, give or take a few minutes based on the wind."

"Thank you Stork… Is everyone ready for battle?" Aerrow continued as he scanned the semi-familiar bridge.

"Yeah, what about you Aerrow? Are you better?" Starling asked from where she stood on the bridge.

"I'll recover given enough time." Aerrow said confidently, although Piper suspected that it was more charade than certainty at this point. Well, she had recovered from her own ordeal to a degree, namely by keeping busy and not thinking on what she had done. Granted, her own crimes were less serious than Aerrow's but still…

"Oh man, we're really doomed." Stork announced suddenly, interrupting Piper's thoughts. "It looks like the Devastator is here and has already eliminated nearly all the carriers present."

"Okay, I remember Piper telling me about this thing, I know how we can fight it. Stork bring the Condor to a stop, the rest of us will use our skimmers to infiltrate the Devastator through the supply bays located toward the rear of the vessel. It is small enough that no one would normally notice it, but Piper made detailed notes of the vessel during her time as researcher since the ship has a unique crystal energy system." Aerrow announced as he grabbed one of Piper's notebooks and skimmed through it until he found the schematic he was looking for.

"Finally, a plan that does not mean running from that thing." Starling said with cheer as the Storm Hawks gathered around Aerrow to listen to his explanation of the plan. By the time the meeting was over, the Storm Hawks were confident that they would be able to strike yet another major blow against Cyclonia.


	47. Chapter 47

**Darkening Skies: End Infinite**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

Warning: This chapter contains a slightly more descriptive scene of violence than previous chapters. Although I believe it to be acceptable within the guidelines of the 'T' rating this story has, I have still marked it aside for those who would prefer not to read such scenes.

**Chapter 5**

While the Condor hid back in the distance, the other Storm Hawks raced toward the Devastator, using the Wasteland cloud layer as cover. It was crucial to the plan that they not be seen until they had already boarded the Devastator, otherwise they would likely be blasted out of the sky due to the sheer number of guns on the vessel. Once they were onboard, they could easily sneak around until they reached the crystalline nexus that was the heart of the vessel. Shortly, Aerrow noticed a slight darkening of the clouds around them indicative of a vessel above them. The sheer size of the shadowed spot meant that it was the Devastator and he quickly signaled the others to head up. In order to do so, Aerrow killed his thrust for a second, allowing the rear end of his skimmer to dip down; he then accelerated quickly, launching himself straight up into the open skies above the clouds and heading right for the Devastator. As he neared, he pulled back slightly to skim the surface of the ship, heading for the rear where the supply bay was located. He was not worried about the other Storm Hawks; they were all skilled enough to make this run and would arrive safely.

Vespos grunted as he bodily threw the Dark Ace backward by shoving his blade against the commander's blade. The other man stumbled backward but did not fall and retaliated almost immediately with a charge toward the Ancient. Vespos deflected the sword with his own weapon then whirled around to kick the Dark Ace along his path of attack, but the Dark Ace expected that and immediately dropped on one hand and flipped up into a kick. Vespos dodged backward, avoiding the kick while he brought his own sword up to attack. In a surprising move however, the Dark Ace had somersaulted over and was able to block Vespos before he could bring his sword to bear, forcing the Ancient to keep his blade pointed downward and near to his body, not the best situation to be in under any circumstances.

"A stalemate it would seem…" Vespos said in a strained voice as he struggled to force the Dark Ace's blade back.

"You cannot win Ancient…" The Dark Ace replied confidently although his voice was just as strained as Vespos's was.

"You forget one thing…" Vespos shot back as he suddenly leapt over the Dark Ace, freeing their blades from each other. Immediately, the Dark Ace's blade swept out in a wide arc that made it useless for defense or attack, a result of the immense force he had put into fighting back his opponent's blade. Vespos saw his opening and drove down with his blade to impale the Dark Ace, but the Cyclonian was quick enough to avoid the attack by rolling out of the way. Instead of running his opponent through, Vespos instead sliced deep into the skimmer the two were riding on, rendering him defenseless as the Dark Ace stood up and raised his sword to strike. Acting quickly, Vespos empowered his blade with one of his Sky Knight moves, blasting out a halo of energy from the blade that neatly sliced the vehicle into two pieces, sending both men plummeting toward the Wastelands below. Neither had any intention of spending time in that desolate place however and both had means of escaping such a fate. Vespos quickly pulled out a wind crystal and used it to fly back to his own skimmer while the Dark Ace used his abilities from Master Cyclonis to repair his sundered skimmer before racing back up to meet his opponent.

The two met once again in a vicious clash of blades that nearly knocked both off their feet from the force of impact. However, both recovered quickly and attacked again, Vespos slashing with a horizontal strike meant to decapitate his opponent while the Dark Ace ducked and countered with a horizontal slash to the Ancient's midsection. Vespos spun his blade quickly and blocked the attack before it even singed his cloak, then punched the Dark Ace in the face while both their blades were locked in a deadly standoff.

"You don't fight like a normal Sky Knight." The Dark Ace said as he fought off the effects of the punch from his opponent's armored fist. "It's kind of refreshing."

"Spare me the compliments." Vespos said as he brought a leg around to sweep the Dark Ace's feet out from under him. The Dark Ace stepped back out of range, freeing both their locked up blades. Vespos immediately brought his blade around into a forward thrust meant to impale the Dark Ace, but the commander spun out of the way in time to avoid the strike, whipping his own blade around to slash Vespos across the chest. Although he managed to score a hit on the Ancient, the odd armor he wore protected Vespos from any real damage and soon began to heal itself of the miniature crevasse he had inflicted.

"As I said before, stalemate." Vespos said as he leapt up into a Sky Knight move, forcing the Dark Ace to dodge backwards.

The Storm Hawks quietly made their way through the nearly empty corridors of the Devastator, surprised at how few people were manning the vessel considering that it was operating at optimum performance. Not to mention the crew the schematics said the vessel should have. Still, Aerrow was not about to curse their good fortune by complaining about the lack of Talons, particularly since it meant that they could quickly make their way to the crystalline nexus.

"Here it is." Piper whispered, indicating a large impressive door up ahead. The Storm Hawks quickly took up positions around the door before Aerrow pressed the door control, suddenly flooding the hall with red light that emanated from the chamber inside. Without waiting to see if an alarm would be triggered, the Storm Hawks raced inside to find the room threaded with pathways of firebolt crystal, all of it leading to a central sphere of firebolt crystal over twenty feet across. From the looks of things, there appeared to be something darker inside the sphere, some kind of structure or…

"Is there someone in there?" Piper asked in shock as the dark shape inside the crystal moved. Almost as soon as she said it, Aerrow began to get a very bad feeling which was further amplified as the crystal sphere began to open like a flower. As the figure glided forward, the backlighting began to fade, revealing the identity of the person who had been encased inside.

"Hello Storm Hawks, welcome to the core of my Devastator." Master Cyclonis said; her presence causing both Aerrow and Piper to wince in pain as their dark halves suddenly struggled to regain control. "For all but two of you, this shall be the last place you ever see…"

"Forget it Cyclonis, we're free of your control now and we will never be under your thumb again!" Aerrow shouted back in a determined tone.

"You underestimate me." Master Cyclonis said as she gestured to the walls around them, causing columns of firebolt crystal to erupt from the conduits and slam into the floor. An instant later, red lightning filled the room, catching the Storm Hawks and contorting them as pain washed over their bodies. As he fell to the floor in agony, something within Aerrow exploded; a fierce determination to stop Master Cyclonis that was intensified by the cries of his friends as they suffered around him. Fighting off the effects of the pain, Aerrow launched himself at the crystalmancer and slashing through the columns of firebolt crystal that stood between him and Master Cyclonis.

"No! Don't!" Master Cyclonis yelled as Aerrow sliced through column after column, not realizing the effect his Dying Light empowered blades were having on the firebolt crystal around him. Somehow, the energy of the Dying Light crystals had started a catastrophic chain reaction in the firebolt crystal, causing it to break down into pure energy as even the matter of the crystal broke down. With each destroyed column the individual reactions grew more violent, acting almost as if they were somehow linked until; with one final slash, the reaction reached a critical point and exploded violently, and flashed through the conduits in an instant. As the energy in the firebolt crystals reached the point where it could no longer be physically contained within the crystalline lattice of the firebolt crystals, Master Cyclonis desperately sought a way to stop the reaction and save them all. True, Piper and Aerrow were now her opponents, but as long as they lived there was always the chance that she could convert them again. Try as she might though, she found she could not control the reaction; it was only a matter of time before the entire ship exploded. There was no more time; she had to make a choice…

As the reaction sped along crystal conduits that wove through the ship, the vessel began to groan and crack as crystal-dependent equipment exploded, weakening the support structure of the Devastator. In only a few seconds, the reaction had consumed every inch of crystalline conduit and the energetic wave bounced back on itself, shattering the few molecular bonds that had kept the freed energy contained. The conduits had been vital to the ship and underlined nearly every corridor and room and wound around every support beam and, as they tore themselves apart, there was no chance that the battleship would survive. Instantly, simultaneously, every conduit exploded, shattering bulkheads and tearing apart hull armor as shards of metal tore through windows and ship cannons. Thankfully, the vessel had been set up so that Master Cyclonis could run the entire vessel from inside the crystal nexus so no Talons had been aboard, otherwise they would not have survived the ship tearing itself apart. The core, which had been separate from the conduits to limit the flow of energy, managed to survive until last, but soon it too began to break down. As it reached critical and exploded, the compression wave blasted the entire vessel apart in a final, catastrophic detonation.

* * *

The Dark Ace stared in shock as the Devastator exploded, the death of such a vessel incomprehensible to him, particularly since its shields had still been active at the time. His second thought immediately went to Master Cyclonis, who had been aboard the vessel last he knew. Surely she had not died in the blast; Cyclonia could not survive without her… He stared a moment too long however as Vespos quickly recognized that he had an opening and ran the Cyclonian commander through with his sword, easily piercing his armor thanks to the power of his crystal sword. As the Dark Ace collapsed, he looked down at where the blade had exited him, his eyes losing focus as he saw his uniform darken around the wound in his chest. As he clutched at the injury to staunch the flow, a shadow fell over him and he looked up, forcing his eyes to focus on the helmeted face of Vespos hidden beneath his hood.

* * *

"Y… you…" Dark Ace managed to stammer out as he tasted copper in the back of his throat. Was he actually dying?

"Fear not Dark Ace, I took the time to make sure that I did not hit anything vital, no major arteries or nerves or anything else like that. You will survive provided you receive medical care; I despise out rightly killing someone so distracted. Truth be told, I would not have stabbed you at all save that I have other pressing concerns and needed to eliminate your opposition any way possible. Good bye Dark Ace, I wish you a decent recovery." Vespos said in a solemn flat tone before he sped off through the debris filled skies around Cyclonia. In his wake, the Dark Ace slowly began to lose consciousness…

Aerrow slowly stood, shaking off the last vestiges of unconsciousness as he looked around to gain his bearings. Nearby he saw the prone forms of the other Storms Hawks, all of them still breathing he saw to his great relief. A short distance from them he could make out another form that he quickly identified as Master Cyclonis. She also seemed to have survived, although she appeared to be injured which was surprising considering the shield that normally surrounded her. He coughed hoarsely, trying to expel the dust and other particles that were irritating the back of his throat.

"Mmnn… Aerrow?" Piper said faintly as she too regained consciousness before coughing as well. "How did… we survive?"

"I don't know… I think Master Cyclonis teleported us to safety." Aerrow said in a bewildered tone, not certain of anything anymore.

"That is correct Aerrow." Master Cyclonis said suddenly as she floated to her feet, her shield flaring back into existence before becoming invisible. "You should be grateful that you were accidentally caught in my teleport field thanks to all the crystal energy flying around in the room at the time."

"I very much doubt that, you probably saved us because if we die then Night Aerrow and Dark Piper die. The other Storm Hawks were just collateral teleportation targets." Piper said harshly, a combination of her own doubt combined with the dust still caught in her throat.

"Believe what you will…" Master Cyclonis said in a distant voice as she sensed the Dark Ace slowly dying nearby. As much as she would like to convert Aerrow and Piper right now, she would not sacrifice Dark Ace for them, she had to save him first. With a grimace she vanished, teleporting to where she sensed the Dark Ace would be, after all, the Storm Hawks would still be there when she returned. However, soon after she vanished, Vespos and several other Ancients swooped down to the small spire of rock the Storm Hawks had been stranded on, motioning for the Sky Knights to climb aboard as quick as possible. Without wasting any time, Aerrow and Piper loaded up their friends and then climbed aboard themselves, eager to leave Cyclonia as soon as possible. As they fled the burning skies around Cyclonia, Vespos turned to look back at Aerrow. "It is good to finally meet you Aerrow of the Storm Hawks, we have much to discuss."

"Like Night Aerrow?"

"Fear not, we will find a way to eliminate them permanently back on Terra Anki, you need never hear them again nor fear that they might control you once more." Vespos said in a reassuring tone.


	48. Redemption

**Darkening Skies: Redemption**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

The chambers at the core of Terra Anki were normally only used when the Ancients went into hibernation, but this day they would be used to remove the taint of Cyclonian corruption from two of the most accomplished Sky Knights the Atmos had ever seen. As a result, the chamber was a flurry of activity as the Ancients prepared it for the task ahead. This method of treatment was experimental and was based around Piper's observations of how the psionic crystals seemed towork and was two-fold in nature. While the Ancients slowly extracted the psionic crystals, link crystals and mesmeric crystals using the life-support systems of the stasis tubes, Aerrow and Piper would be charged with fighting their inner dark sides to ensure they remained based in the crystals. Otherwise, Night Aerrow and Dark Piper could transfer themselves into Aerrow and Piper's actual minds and existence independent of the psionic crystals as secondary personalities.

"Make sure those crystals and filters are properly tuned." Vespos said as two of the Ancient medics ran specialized instruments over a series of leecher crystals and replaced the filters in the life-support systems hooked up to the stasis cells. Piper looked at all the equipment in wide-eyed curiosity, curious as to how these devices allowed the Ancients to survive their long hibernation. Perhaps a detailed study later on would reveal how the systems worked, provided the Ancients allowed it.

"So, are you certain this will work?" Aerrow asked as he watched the activity around him.

"Yes. See, the Ancients life-support systems hook up to these systems which use teleportation crystals to extract their blood and ensure it is able to keep them alive as well as filter out toxins," Piper explained as she indicated each apparatus she was describing. "Now, we have modified the equipment to include these leecher crystals which will drain the energy of the intrusive crystals as they are run through the machines. This leaves a residual charge on the shards which the filters will use to catch the fragments and prevent them from re-entering our bodies. And if the fragments coalesce to extract themselves from our bloodstream, then the Ancient medics will remove them with traditional surgery."

"And all we have to do is fight off our own dark sides while the procedure is run?" Aerrow asked, clearly interested in the process but wanting to take care of practical matters first.

"That is correct." Vespos said as he looked over the equipment to make sure everything was in readiness. "We have encountered this sort of manipulation before. Whatever you do in your inner battle, do not lose. You do not have to win, you only need to stall them until we have extracted all the crystal fragments from you and then you will be left as the only ones in your respective mindscapes. Remember that above all: no matter what they do, no matter what they show you, do not lose. Otherwise, we will have to take more drastic measures to ensure the eradication of your errant personas."

"Understood." Both Aerrow and Piper said simultaneously.

"Good, we are ready to begin; you may enter the stasis cells when ready. I wish you the best of luck; I know you will need it." Vespos said stoically as the two Sky Knights climbed into their stasis cells.

Hour after hour passed as the other Storm Hawks and Sky Knights (minus the Rex Guardians) waited outside of the central chambers of Terra Anki, eager for any news as to the current status of their comrades. Finally, after four hours, Vespos emerged from the chamber and turned to face the assembled Sky Knights.

"My friends, the procedures were a complete success, we sense no trace of the psionic crystals in their bodies and we have entered the dreamscape and found no trace of Night Aerrow or Dark Piper. We never need fear their shadow darkening Atmos again; we are free of them forever." The leader of the Ancients announced to much cheering from the Sky Knights present at the meeting.

"Now we can get to work on freeing the terras from the grip of Cyclonia." Aerrow said as he walked out of the chamber.

"And I know just how to do it, thanks to the meticulous notes my dark side took." Piper chimed in, "Atmosia will return and freedom with it."


	49. Nux Ex Machina

**Darkening Skies: Epilogue: Nux Ex Machina**

The Storm Hawks world concept is copyright to Nerd Corps and Asaph Fipke.

Aerrow, Stork, Piper, Starling, Junko, Finn, Radarr and other Sky Knights are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Master Cyclonis, Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Talons are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Repton and the Raptors are the intellectual property of Asaph Fipke and copyright to Nerd Corps.

Ageless Specter, Lord Xivor and The Ancients are the intellectual property of AgelessSpecter and used with permission.

Marrshal, Psychos and Lord Astrel are my intellectual property; please credit them as such if for some reason you use them.

"Why? Why did it have to end this way?" Master Cyclonis whispered quietly to herself as she sat alone in the darkness of her throne room. She had never felt pain of this sort before, a deep heart-felt ache that refused to go away. She had practically lost everything, her fiancée, her best friend, her mightiest warship and, with the destruction of the Duplication Crystal, she would soon be unable to prevent the resistance from reclaiming the former terras of Free Atmos. Particularly since the Dark Ace had been seriously injured in the last battle and would not be able to fight for many months while he recovered internally and went through rehabilitation. Cyclonia was defenseless save for the Talons and they were now too few in number to safeguard her vast empire. If the Devastator were still intact, they might stand a chance, but it too had been lost in that final horrible battle.

Her one consolation was that she had figured out why the Devastator had been destroyed. It was infuriatingly obvious in hindsight, although she did not know how she could prevent it from happening again. The source of the problem lay in the powers she used to forge the Dying Light crystals, those powers amplified by the Chaos Crystal she wore. As a result, the Dying Light crystals were essentially solidified chaos diluted with the energy of firebolt crystals to create duplicates of the Aurora Stone. This had created a synergy between the firebolt crystals and the Dying Light crystals that allowed the Dying Light crystals to absorb some of the chaos energy contained within. Since they were not forged with Chaos energies, the firebolt crystals reacted by breaking down into energy, the most chaotic form they could manage naturally. That energy was by nature explosive and had thus led to the destruction of the vessel.

"What a pathetic consolation that knowledge is…" Master Cyclonis whispered as she remembered the fun she, Night Aerrow and Piper had on the Devastator and her heartache intensified all the more at the knowledge that she would never know such joy again. A quiet sob escaped from her and she found that she could not stop herself from crying, not for her lost empire or failed plan but for the friends she had lost. If only there was some way she could undo what had happened, some way she could recover her friends. She had sensed the removal of her crystals and that had redoubled her despair as without those crystals she stood no chance of recovering her friends and she had no way of implanting crystals in Aerrow or Piper anymore. Marrshal might have some ideas, but they might not succeed like their first plan had.

"Poor Master Cyclonis, lost everything she valued…" a voice said in front of her, causing her to look up in alarm. However, there was no one present in the room that she could see.

"Sorry, wrong direction…" the voice said from beside her and Cyclonis looked over to find Magus Psi standing next to her throne.

"Magus Psi, what are you doing here?" Master Cyclonis asked, trying to will some irritation into voice but failing.

"I have come to help you in your time of need; you wanted any opportunity to undo what has happened and get your friends back. I can help you with that and I ask for nothing in return, after all, I hate to see one of my students suffer, particularly emotionally speaking." Magus Psi said in a munificent tone.

"I don't believe you." Master Cyclonis said.

"Why the mistrust? After all, I gave you the Chaos Crystal and trained you without expecting anything in return; you do not even owe me any favors. I simply want to help you. Please, I can give you a second chance… I will not guarantee the results, but I at least can promise you another chance." Magus continued, genuine concern tinting his voice. Master Cyclonis found herself drawn to his offer, any chance to undo her mistakes… Anything to relieve the terrible heartache she felt…

"Alright, what do I need to do?"

"Nothing except what you want to do." Magus Psi said as he waved a hand through the air, leaving a luminescent circle of energy in its wake. "And you need to step through the portal if you want to gain a second chance."

"Thank you Magus Psi." Cyclonis said as she stepped through the portal and vanished. As she disappeared, Magus Psi dispersed and Psychos appeared in his place, chuckling malevolently as he faded away, his final words were:

"All according to plan… Emotions are so easily manipulated."

* * *

Moments after Master Cyclonis entered the portal, reality convulsed as two universes collided, two separate series of events forced to exist simultaneously in the same universe thanks to the manipulations of the Illuminati. Although this universal collision could not be seen or noticed by most people, one being in particular was affected by this unexpected turn of events.

* * *

"Aiegh!" The Oracle screamed in pain as she felt the continuity of existence ripple around her, an infinity of possibilities suddenly gone, all possible futures annihilated in an instant. Somehow, two timelines had been forced into one; someone had made two possible outcomes of an event exist simultaneously. Her reality convulsed again and she found herself lying in a dark alleyway on what appeared to be Terra Atmosia. She was confined to physical form? Impossible, she could exist in her ethereal form as long as there were possible futures for her to see and hide in.

"Now what do you suppose that means about the future of this universe? The correct answer is that there is no real future left until we construct a new one for them." A dark shadow said from behind her.

"No… Not you, anyone but you…" The Oracle said, her voice trembling as she scrambled backward.

"Yes Oracle, we have come for you… The Four want you to stand trial for your crimes of manipulation against this universe." The Ageless Specter said as his ghostly image floated forward, "You were to leave this universe once freed from the Oracle Stone, but you stayed and manipulated events to prevent the fall of Atmosia. Do you have any idea why Atmosia needed to fall? It was to prevent further catastrophe, in other words the releasing of the Stormweaver Order and the inevitability of my arrival. To say nothing of the futures you destroyed, the destinies you annihilated… Fear not though, there is one last chance for this world to avoid the wrath of the Illuminati. Later, when we release you from this time between times, warn them of what is to come; we will hunt you down and capture you ourselves when the time is right." With his warning finished, the Ageless Specter faded away, leaving only the Oracle trembling in the quiet time frozen streets of Atmosia.

* * *

Marrshal quietly entered the throne room of Cyclonia, having returned from his journeys throughout the Atmos. He found the room to be dark, save for a dim red glow emanating from a lone standing figure near the throne.

"My lady?" he asked quietly, not wanting to disturb her too much.

"Ah Marrshal, so good of you to return… Preserve Cyclonia and take vengeance on the Ancients… These are my last orders to you…" Cyclonis said before she collapsed between the two other prone forms that lay there. Curious, Marrshal walked over and examined the unconscious forms near the throne.

"How interesting…"

* * *

'_The cyclone will shatter the peace and Darkness shall envelop the future of this Atmos,_

_The fate of all shall be held in the hands of the one who should never be entrusted with such power and one who has yet to find his destiny…'_

Finale Canto, Final Prediction of the Dark Oracle

* * *

Author Note:

Well, this is it, the end of Darkening Skies; I hope you enjoyed this story. For those of you interested, the story of the Storms Hawks, Marrshal, the Ancients and the Ageless Specter is continued in Legacy of Deceit, the next section of this tale.


End file.
